HELLO/HOLA

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HELLO/HOLA links the rape and murder of over 300 unidentified women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to the structural effects of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and intergovernmental relations between the United States and Mexico. Of particular interest is how free trade and misogyny join forces to endanger women. Many of the murdered women remain unidentified, personifying the anonymous violence that can be precipitated by policy change.

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In an attempt to acknowledge their lost identities, HELLO/HOLA uses the recurring image of a blank nametag manufactured by Avery, one of the maquiladoras (factories) operating in Juarez. The blue references the color of the factory workers' uniforms. The project connects the flow of international capital and the search for cheap labor to the flow of women's lives. HELLO/HOLA speaks to the movement of money and bodies that results in increased danger for young, poor, brown women who are effectively displaced from their homes and exposed to new forms of violence.

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The project, from 2002, includes oversize posters, a wallpaper installation and a mobile truck proposal.