California Professors Build Pink Seesaws Between U.S. & Mexico Border In ‘Unifying Act’
Pink seesaws showed up Tuesday along the U.S. and Mexico border, allowing children in Mexico to play with children across the border in the United States, USA Today reported.
The neon pink play equipment is part of an art instillation created by Ronald Rael, a professor of architecture at the University of California Berkeley, and Virginia San Fratello, an associate professor of design at San Jose State University, per KTLA.
According to KTLA, the “Teeter-Totter Wall” is a physical manifestation of a design made for a 2009 book called Border Wall as Architecture. The 2009 book pokes fun at the concept of border walls.
The three neon pink seesaws, constructed based on the design for the book 10 years later, are found on the border between Sunland Park, New Mexico and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
KTLA reported that the New Mexican town has had a noteworthy history with its border. In the same town where the seesaws sit, a civilian militia apprehended migrants earlier this year. Also this year, a private group said it began to construct a border wall between the New Mexico town and Mexico following millions of dollars in donations to a GoFundMe campaign.
According to CNN, that group, named “We Build the Wall,” began its GoFundMe campaign following a federal judge’s ruling earlier this year that forbid the president from using billions of dollars in funding from the U.S. Department of Defense to construct the border wall.
In a post he made to Instagram, Rael called the construction of the pink seesaws one of the most “incredible” experiences of his life.
?? American and Mexican families play with a toy called "up and down" (Seesaw swing) over the Mexican border with US at the Anapra zone in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua State, Mexico on July 28, 2019.
? Luis Torres #AFP pic.twitter.com/7CrUyoV95O— AFP Photo (@AFPphoto) July 29, 2019
“The wall became a literal fulcrum for U.S. – Mexico relations and children and adults were connected in meaningful ways on both sides with the recognition that the actions that take place on one side have a direct consequence on the other side,” Rael said in the Instagram post.
On the Instagram post that contained video of children and adults using the seesaws on both sides of the border, people shared their excitement over the vision of unity the installation created.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0fY2R6hfKr/?utm_source=ig_embed
“So amazing!!!” one user wrote, including heart emoji.
“Love is the greatest rebellion,” another added, also attaching several of a similar heart emoji.
According to the University of California, people on both sides of the border flocked to the the play equipment in what it called a “unifying act,” though it noted that there was no plan on the Mexican side of the border to participate in the new installation prior to its construction.
In 2016, the president made building a new border wall between the United States and Mexico a cornerstone of his campaign, though Trump has had issues getting funding for the wall since taking office. While he initially claimed that he would get Mexico to pay for it, he later tried to use military funds to pay for it. According to U.S. News & World Report, the Supreme Court last week ruled 5-4 that the president could use some $2.5 billion in defense funds to construct it.
