MISSION//MISIÓN
AMBOS seeks to express and document border emotion through art made on opposite sides by providing a platform to bi-national artists along the border.
AMBOS busca expresar y documentar los sentimientos de la frontera a través de arte hecho en lados opuestos al proveer una plataforma a artistas bi-nacionales a lo largo de la frontera.
AMBOS: Art Made Between Opposite Sides is a femme-led binational artist collaborative that works along the U.S./Mexico border to build migrant support systems through craft, care, and mutual aid to advance pro-migrant narratives in the U.S. and Mexico. Founded in 2016 by the artist Tanya Aguiñiga as a way to make visible issues that affect the transnational population in Tijuana, the project has grown organically in scale and scope in reaction to a changing border landscape. In its various phases, AMBOS has supported documentation of the border, collaboration with artists, community activism, mutual aid, border and craft education, and an exploration of identities influenced by the liminal zone of the borderlands. Work created through AMBOS has been exhibited at the Sun Valley Museum of Art, Idaho (2024); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2023); Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach (2023); Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena (2020); Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles (2019); Museum of Art and Design, New York (2018); Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC (2018), and Consulate General of Mexico, Los Angeles (2016), among other venues. AMBOS Projects reside in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the DePaul Art Museum, Chicago. Current and past collaborators include Karla Aguiñiga, Tanya Aguiñiga, Jackie Amézquita, Cecilia Brawley, Gina Clyne, Cog•nate Collective, Natalie Godinez, Diana Ryoo, and Juan Villavicencio, among other artists in both the United States and Mexico.
OUR STORY // NUESTRA HISTORIA
AMBOS (Art Made Between Opposite Sides) was founded by Tanya Aguiñiga. This project was born out of the need to use her skills to address the ongoing issues that her family and community face where she grew up. Aguiñiga was raised in Tijuana, México where the border fence cuts into the ocean. She crossed the border every day for 14 years to get an education in the US. Additionally, her formative years as an artist were spent as part of the Border Arts Workshop, a community of artists that addressed border issues. There she helped found a community center in an autonomous land-squat run by indigenous women in the outskirts of Tijuana.
After leaving the Border Arts workshop, Tanya connected with communities in need that were different from her own. She worked with indigenous communities in Chiapas and Oaxaca, native peoples in Alaska and underserved urban communities in Los Angeles. Yet, the experience of growing up as a binational citizen kept coming back to her work. This experience is not unique to her, and she wanted to give a voice to the community that continues to cross daily despite stigma and discrimination. Thus, AMBOS was born.
AMBOS Project started as a month long activation at the San Ysidro border crossing in Tijuana, but has evolved its focus to record and paint a picture of what life looks like along the length of the US/Mexico border for those who are unfamiliar with the realities that take place there. Through the different phases of the project, AMBOS has fostered a greater sense of interconnectedness in the border regions it has visited. AMBOS as a project has become multi-faceted. It is part documentation of the border, part collaboration with artists, part community activism, part exploration of identities influenced by the liminal zone of the borderlands.
By connecting with local artists, activists, and makers in the border region, AMBOS is working to capture an accurate representation of the sister cities and communities on both sides. In making community-based art, AMBOS also functions as an emotional thermometer to gauge the health of policy and transnational relationships in each community. AMBOS seeks to generate healthier cross-border relationships between communities and governmental bodies by raising awareness of issues and opinion in the border region and amplifying them to an international audience. Through these efforts, AMBOS recontextualizes and calls attention to the importance and lack of accessibility at US borders. Using craft and art as a vehicle for community self-care, this project is aimed at humanizing the act of border crossing.
AMBOS (Arte Hecho en Lados Opuestos) fue fundado por Tanya Aguiñiga. El proyecto nació de la necesidad de usar sus habilidades para brindar atención a los problemas que afectan a su familia y a la comunidad en la que creció. Aguiñiga creció en Tijuana, México donde la reja fronteriza corta al mar. Cruzó la frontera a diario por 14 años para estudiar en Estados Unidos. Adicionalmente, sus años formativos como artista fueron dedicados al Taller de Arte Fronterizo. Durante su trabajo ahí fue que ayudó a fundar un centro comunitario en una comunidad autónoma de mujeres indígenas en las afueras de Tijuana.
Después de dejar el Taller de Arte Fronterizo, Tanya hizo conexiones con comunidades necesitadas diferentes a la suya. Trabajó con comunidades indigenas en Chiapas y Oaxaca, personas nativas en Alaska y en comunidades urbanas con pocos recursos en Los Angeles. Sin embargo, la experiencia de crecer como ciudadana binacional volvía a presentarse en su trabajo. Esta experiencia no es única y quiso darle una voz a la comunidad fronteriza que continúa cruzando a diario a pesar del estigma y la discriminación. Gracias a esto, nació AMBOS.
El proyecto AMBOS inició con una activación de un mes en el cruce fronterizo de San Ysidro en Tijuana, pero ha evolucionado su enfoque para documentar y pintar una imagen de la vida a lo largo de la frontera de México/Estados Unidos para exponer esta realidad a aquellos que no estén familiarizados con lo que se vive ahí. A través de las diferentes fases del proyecto, AMBOS ha logrado crear un mayor sentimiento de interconexión en las regiones fronterizas que ha visitado. AMBOS como proyecto se ha vuelvo multifacético. Es parte documentación de la frontera, parte colaboración con artistas, parte activismo comunitario, parte exploración de identidades influídas por la zona liminal de las tierras fronterizas.
Al conectarse con artistas, activistas y creadores en ambos lados de la región fronteriza, AMBOS busca capturar una representación real de las ciudades hermanas y las comunidades en ambos lados. Al hacer arte basado en la comunidad, AMBOS funciona también como un termómetro emocional para determinar la salud de las políticas y relaciones transnacionales en cada comunidad. AMBOS busca generar relaciones más saludables entre las comunidades y gobiernos fronterizos al brindar atención a las problemáticas sociales y opiniones de la región fronteriza y amplificarlas a un público internacional. A través de este esfuerzo, AMBOS recontextualiza y brinda atención a la importancia y falta de accesibilidad de las fronteras Estadunidenses. Usando la artesanía y el arte como un vehículo para el cuidado personal de la comunidad, este proyecto esta enfocado en humanizar el acto de cruzar la frontera.
