Seesaws at Border Bring People Together
These seesaws at the U.S.-Mexico border are connecting people and families through play. This architecture professor created the installation as a form of protest and to show how actions have direct consequences.
A beautiful reminder that we are connected
Architect Ronald Rael installed 3 pink seesaws on the U.S.-Mexico border between Sunland Park, New Mexico and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. The Teeter-Totter Wall was originally designed in 2009 by Rael and Virginia San Fratello. They drew the design of the “Teeter-Totter Wall” for the book “Borderwall as Architecture,” which UC-Berkeley said uses “humor and inventiveness to address the futility of building barriers.” Ten years later, their conceptual drawings became reality.
“What is done on one side has an impact on the other. And that is what a seesaw does, it goes up and goes down. Exactly that. It's really sad that something like a barrier separates us… because there are Mexicans on that side of the border, just as there are Americans on this side, and to wonder what we can do to see each other. Beautiful reminder that we are connected: what happens on one side impacts the other. Here at the wall — well we felt something very beautiful because to live with those on the other side and spend and enjoy a moment — well it's very nice for us. Civilization is nothing without the support & understanding between neighbors & nations,” Ronald Rael shares.
They installed it to connect and unify children at the border according to the UC Press. Rael says the seesaws are a symbol of how actions have direct consequences on the other side. Pink seesaws were installed between a fence separating the United States from Mexico to encourage people on both sides to meet up and have some fun. There was “no advance planning for participants on the Mexico side of the fence,” the university said. In an Instagram post, Rael said the event was “filled with joy, excitement and togetherness at the border wall.”
Brut.
A beautiful reminder that we are connected
Architect Ronald Rael installed 3 pink seesaws on the U.S.-Mexico border between Sunland Park, New Mexico and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. The Teeter-Totter Wall was originally designed in 2009 by Rael and Virginia San Fratello. They drew the design of the “Teeter-Totter Wall” for the book “Borderwall as Architecture,” which UC-Berkeley said uses “humor and inventiveness to address the futility of building barriers.” Ten years later, their conceptual drawings became reality.
“What is done on one side has an impact on the other. And that is what a seesaw does, it goes up and goes down. Exactly that. It's really sad that something like a barrier separates us… because there are Mexicans on that side of the border, just as there are Americans on this side, and to wonder what we can do to see each other. Beautiful reminder that we are connected: what happens on one side impacts the other. Here at the wall — well we felt something very beautiful because to live with those on the other side and spend and enjoy a moment — well it's very nice for us. Civilization is nothing without the support & understanding between neighbors & nations,” Ronald Rael shares.
They installed it to connect and unify children at the border according to the UC Press. Rael says the seesaws are a symbol of how actions have direct consequences on the other side. Pink seesaws were installed between a fence separating the United States from Mexico to encourage people on both sides to meet up and have some fun. There was “no advance planning for participants on the Mexico side of the fence,” the university said. In an Instagram post, Rael said the event was “filled with joy, excitement and togetherness at the border wall.”
Brut.