Examining the “Borderscape” Approach in Landscape Photography as a Critical Strategy: A Case Study of Richard Misrach’s “Border Cantos” Series

Introduction: Borders, as geopolitical phenomena, not only serve as dividers of nation-state sovereignty but also play a prominent role in shaping spaces, places, and human relations. Major developments in global politics over recent decades have fostered an interdisciplinary interest in borders, and many visual and interdisciplinary artists have engaged with the theme of borderscapes in their work. Although the concept and approach of the “borderscape” largely align with the framework of political geography, it presents borders as non-territorial, mobile spaces based on human flows and interactions. In this perspective, a border is not understood as a fixed location but rather as a dynamic and fluid landscape that extends beyond the demarcation line, traversing peripheral areas and territorial continuities, a landscape that is not confined to a specific space and is continually transforming and being redefined. Within this perspective, the study and analysis of landscape photographs of border walls and fences, as artistic objects, requires an examination of the factors that shape the geography of the border through the enclosure of spaces. Landscape photography, by capturing borderscapes as security spaces, represents violence and population control, and creates the possibility for a critical and ethical examination of border walls and fences as security apparatuses of the state.
Objectives and Research Questions: The objective of this research is to examine the approach of the borderscape in landscape photography as a critical strategy for revealing violence and generating ethical reflection in the audience. This research attempts to answer the following two questions: How does landscape photography reveal the latent violence in the borderscape? How does the borderscape, in landscape photography, enable the possibility of ethical reflection for the audience?
Case Study: In order to address the research questions, the United States–Mexico border wall, as a prominent example of organized violence, provides an appropriate context for examining borderscape photographs. The focus of this research is the examination and analysis of the series of photographs, Cantos of the Border, by Richard Misrach as a concentrated case study. This series is an interdisciplinary project prepared in collaboration with Guillermo Galindo, a Mexican multimedia artist, and aims to provide a critique of the policies and campaigns for constructing the wall during the presidency of Donald Trump. The project consists of two main sections, an exhibition and a project book, each designed to provide a comprehensive experience of the borderscape. In this research, the focus is on analyzing selected images from the project book, and the analysis is conducted using a critical aesthetic approach. The critical aesthetic approach, with a focus on the emotional and affective experience of the border, enables the revelation of hidden dimensions of violence in borderscapes and creates a context for eliciting ethical reflection in the audience.
Methodology: The present study is qualitative in nature, based on a fundamental objective, and was conducted using a descriptive-analytical method. The research data were organized theoretically from library and documentary sources, and the images were collected from electronic resources. In this study, drawing on theoretical texts and previous research, the concept of the “borderscape” is examined. The United States–Mexico border wall was selected as a prominent case for examining this approach, as it has been both a site of structural violence and a stage for multiple artistic representations. The research population comprises the works of the photographic series Cantos of the Border by Richard Misrach. From this series, three images were purposefully selected because they possessed the greatest visual capacity for critical aesthetic analysis in terms of composition, ambient light, and the form of natural and human-made elements. Additionally, these images, by featuring appropriate signs as Foucaultian apparatuses of security, demonstrate the distribution of power, control, and surveillance within the borderscape.
Results: The results indicated that landscape photography provides an effective framework for visualizing the violence and surveillance mechanisms embedded in the borderscape. The dual nature of the borderscape, by revealing and enabling the simultaneous experience of binary oppositions such as “self and other,” “security and threat,” and “presence and absence,” creates a context for critical reflection and the consideration of political and ethical issues for the audience. Analysis of three photographs from Richard Misrach’s Cantos of the Border revealed that through the use of critical aesthetic strategies and the display of tension between visual beauty and structural violence, Misrach transforms the borderscape into a field of inquiry, resistance, and ethical reflection. This approach aligns with Michel Foucault’s concept of “security apparatuses”; Misrach presents walls, fences, and border patrol markers as security apparatuses to reveal both the limitations of the border and the lived experiences of those inhabiting or traversing these spaces. Furthermore, he enacts a form of political performance within the realm of landscape photography, demonstrating that the walls are not merely fixed structures but complex sites of emotion, rupture, trauma, and resistance. In his works, aesthetics and politics coexist closely, enabling the use of imagery for critical examination and the representation of the complexities of power and violence at the border. The study of Cantos of the Border shows that Misrach portrays the U.S.-Mexico border not as a static space, but as a dynamic and challenging landscape where aesthetics functions as a strategy for political resistance and critique.