Marketing Photos with Mary Virginia Swanson

From a New Mexico History Museum e-blast:

“Working the Line: David Taylor and Friends

on Life and Photography On the Border

A book signing and panel discussion

Santa Fe – Join photographer and 2008 Guggenheim Fellow David Taylor and a panel of publishers, curators, and border experts for a discussion of current issues along the U.S.-Mexico border as reflected in Taylor’s new book, Working the Line (Radius Books, Spring 2010). The free event is from 5:30-7:30 pm, July 15, 2010, in the New Mexico History Museum Auditorium. A small selection of Taylor’s border images will be on view in the Triangle Gallery next to the auditorium.

In 2008, Taylor received a Guggenheim Fellowship for his ongoing examination of the U.S.–Mexico border. His investigation is organized around the documentation of approximately 260 obelisks that mark the international boundary as it extends from El Paso/Juarez to San Diego/ Tijuana. These monuments – striking objects situated in impossibly gorgeous and difficult terrain – were installed between the 1892 and 1895.

Through his work, Taylor has earned remarkable access to U.S. Border Patrol facilities, agents and routine operations. Patrol agents often refer to their job in the field as “line work” which is an apt description of Taylor’s own time as he documented the obelisks.

Being on the line has given Taylor a unique view into overlapping issues of border security, human and drug smuggling, the continuing construction of the border fence and its impact on the land. This book captures the complexity of the terrain, the politics, and the human dynamics involved. His images are documentary in nature, but also formally and visually compelling.

Taylor will sign copies of the book and participate in a discussion with these panelists:

Paul F. Wells, a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol

David J. Garcia, a member of the Tohono O’Odham Nation (whose ancestral lands span the U.S./Mexico Border) and the Chukut Kuk District, which fronts the international boundary

Hannah Frieser, a photographer, book artist, and curator whose essay is included in Working the Line

Darius Himes, acquiring editor at Radius Books, a nonprofit publisher of books on photography and the visual arts he founded with three colleagues in 2007

David Chickey, founding member of Radius Books, a nonprofit publisher of books on photography and the visual arts he founded with three colleagues in 2007

Mary Anne Redding, curator of photography at the New Mexico History Museum

Taylor is an associate professor at New Mexico State University, where he teaches photography. His photographs, installations and artist’s books have been exhibited nationally. Taylor’s work can be found in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Washington State Arts Commission, El Paso Museum of Art and Fidelity Investments. For more on Taylor and his work, go to www.dtaylorphoto.com.

Radius Books will sell copies of Working the Line at the event for $50. A signed, limited-edition copy with a signed print in a folio will also be available for $800.”