2487

2006

generative multimedia installation

2,487 sounds, database, Pd object, postcards, multichannel sound system

2487 records the names of 2,487 of the estimated ten thousand people who have died while trying to cross the US/Mexico border between 1998 and 2020.

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Effectually giving voice to diaspora, Sanchez’s multi-channel sound piece evolves into an audible terrain where names are generated from various positions marking the varying directions of movement across the border.

The random pattern employed in the voicing of these persons, these deaths, offers both moments of contemplation and anxiety with periods of doubt in between. That one can’t actually hear all the names, as some merge into others or are overlaid, underscores the immensity and gravity of what is being called for, not just called out—the intractability of 2487 … and 2488, and 2489, and 2490 and …. More than just enunciating the sounds of each identity 2487 annunciates a calculated instability, a tension that quietly resonates throughout the piece.

- Jennifer Hope Davy

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2487 Sources: Coalición de Derechos Humanos/Alianza Indígena Sin Fronteras; Stop Border Deaths Now! A project of the Border Working Group, Religious Task Force on Central America and Mexico (WTFCAM); How Many More? Stop Gatekeeper! The California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation’s Border Project; Centro de Documentación del Centro de Estudios Fronterizos y de Promoción de los Derechos Humanos A. C. (CEFPRODHAC); Mexican and US newspapers.

Luz María Sánchez’s 2487 was originally commissioned by Artpace San Antonio as part of the International Artist-in-Residence program New Works: 06.2, curated by Yuko Hasegawa, Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan.

Luz María Sánchez is a National System of Art Creators (SNCA), Mexico member.

www.diaspora2487.org

www.luzmariasanchez.com