Twin Cities Torn Apart: A Story about the U.S–Mexico Border

  • Bertha Alicia Bermudez Tapia University of Colorado, Boulder
  • Mario Jímenez Díaz
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18357/bigr21202019829

Abstract

This visual art project captures how the twin cities of Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas, have been torn apart due to COVID-19 and the temporary border closure. Families were separated, physical borders became more prominent, and loved ones were unable to stand with each other, even at six foot apart. This project describes what inhabitants of these twin cities have experienced and how they have supported each other.

Author Biographies

Bertha Alicia Bermudez Tapia, University of Colorado, Boulder

Bertha Bermúdez Tapia is a PhD Candidate in Sociology and a fellow at the Institute of Behavioral Science for the Population Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her research has been funded by CONACYT and the Tinker Foundation. Bertha’s research interests are on the qualitative aspects of the relationship between migration and border lives, particularly exploring community responses to immigration policies and violence on the US/Mexico Border. Currently she is working with the migrant shelters and asylum seekers camps at the Texas-Tamaulipas border. She received a BA in political science from Monterrey Tech and a master’s degree in Gender Studies and Culture from the University of Chile. Bertha was born and raised in Matamoros, Tamaulipas.

Mario Jímenez Díaz

Mario Jiménez Díaz counts with more than 20 years of experience as a professional artist, he currently develops as a teacher in various educational institutions in his hometown. He studied in Monterrey, Mexico, earning a BA degree in Visual Arts at The Autonomous University of Nuevo León and a master’s degree in Advanced Studies in Art History at the University of Barcelona. Mario was born in Matamoros and spent most of his formation years in a culture-hybrid environment, resulting in the mixture of cultures and traditions typical of a border city

Published
2020-12-15
Issue
Vol 2 No 1 (2020)
Section
Artwork

Copyright (c) 2020 Bertha Alicia Bermudez Tapia, Mario Jímenez Díaz

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