David Taylor: Monuments

In 2007, Arizona artist David Taylor began photographing the monuments that mark the border between Mexico and the United States, aiming to document each of the 276 obelisks installed by the International Boundary Commission following the Mexican/American War. Taylor’s documentation is reflective of a survey conducted by the photographer D.R. Payne between 1891 and 1895 under the auspices of the Boundary Commission (now the International Boundary and Water Commission or IBWC). While many people have photographed the border, there has been no full documentation of the monuments in more than 100 years. This volume combines Taylor’s series with texts by curator Claire Carter and cultural geographer Daniel Arreola, humanizing a zone in transition in the wake of drug smuggling, immigration debates and a post-9/11 security climate. Monuments exists as a typology, the incongruous obelisks acting as witness to a shifting national identity as expressed through an altered physical terrain.