Into the light

The Border Film Project: El proyecto fronterizo fotográfico,

The show incorporates photos from disposable cameras given by three artists to hundreds of border crossers and Minutemen.

As part of the effort to create objectivity in a polarized subject like illegal immigration, SMoCA invited Tucson architects Luis Ibarra and Teresa Rosano, a husband-wife team, to be an integral part of the exhibition. The duo founded Ibarra Rosano Design Architects in 1999. Architecture Magazine featured them as one of nine firms to represent the state’s Arizona School.

The exhibition design for The Border Film Project:: El proyecto fronterizo fotográfico was inspired by the literal and metaphoric presence of shadows on both sides of the border. Ibarra and Rosano organized the gallery into three stages. Using principles of time, sequence and space in conjunction with light, shadow, color and sound, they created an atmosphere for viewers to achieve successive levels of connection with the human aspects of illegal immigration.

"The obscurity of it, as a result of the hysteria around it, and the political aspect keeps it in the shadows," says Ibarra from his Tucson office. He describes the flow of the planned installation: "Dark space in the beginning, to get you to stop assuming, to stop projecting things. Darkness to get people to leave their own worlds behind."

As the viewer follows the curving path, the light becomes stronger. "We want to bring light to those things that are right on both sides," he adds. "We are trying to get people to look at it fresh."

This is the design duo’s first art installation. "The rest of our work is permanent, and this is so temporary," Ibarra says

"SMoCA supports the ongoing migration of design and architecture into a broader cultural context and discussion in the visual arts," says Lesley Oliver, SMoCA marketing manager. She says Arizona’s strong architecture legacy, led by Frank Lloyd Wright, Paolo Soleri and Will Bruder, nudged the museum to meld architecture with its art.

Architects Ibarra and Rosano will be at SMoCA Nov. 2, at 6:30 p.m. in a free presentation to talk about their metaphorical concept and process for The Border Film Project.