Old World - New Math: The Introduction of a New Mapping of the United States,
10 Regions - 5 Pairs of Diametrically Opposed Groupings
Each of us was tasked with producing “A Gift” to be given to our counterpart nation, and this exchange was to be done via “Cultural Ambassadors”, not politically charged employees but unselfish manifestations of the spirit of the region.
Instructor: Craig Wilkins | Fall 2022
Demographic Context:
El Norte: Previously meant to be the establishment of a “New Spain” with Christianity at the forefront, founded to showcase Spanish rule among Native American Neophytes through Missionaries and Coercion. Racial mixing and the changing hands of ownership as a result of weak imperial presence and war led to Mexican Fragmentation and a Central Identity of fighting for Rights, Ownership, Land, and Expression that united both sides of the eventual border.
Current Area: Situated along the Mexican-American Border, stretching through Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, and Baja California on one side and into the southern borders of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and California on the other.
New France: French Settlers arriving in Native Canadian wilderness who gradually became engrained in the culture due to a naturally formed diplomatic connection with Indigenous groups. Marrying into tribes and producing a Laissez-Faire group of French-Native Metis. Eventually sending Acadians to New Orleans, creating a French Liberal stronghold in a surrounding of Conservative Southern thought.
Current Area: Southeastern Canada, spanning Quebec, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, with its most notable satellite being New Orleans and the surrounding tract of Southern Louisiana in the United States
The Ambassadors would be Native/Indigenous Creators and Historical Reenactors, showing continued resilience of identity and providing a Throughline between each Nation.
Mission Statement:
El Norte is the second oldest nation outside of the First Nations, with a storied history and a peoples who derive their culture from an endurance against land changing hands, war, and conquest; who spread their impact across the country on the backs of horses and whose identity transcends modern conceived borders.
Rather than focus on the ideological differences between El Norte and New France, the embassy seeks to tackle the subject of their geographic variance; aridity contrasting with moisture, greenery versus stone, and the base principles of erosion and resultant deposition.
The embassy brings forth the gift of time, flowing through and pooling in places, with perseverance, wonder, reminiscence, and tradition all coalescing in a space carved through over time. The journey through the embassy guides you deeper into the land, nearer to the roots from which cultural expression is derived in hopes of facilitating contemplation and further exploration.
The Dream Catcher and the Revolver, Two Sides of the Same Coin
