BORDERS

Visits to dozens of national borders and border crossings explore ways in which they both divide and connect us.

“A border,” the author writes enticingly in this work translated from Korean, “is a place where different worlds meet.” Pointing out some of the many things, from dress, food, and religions to simple gestures and even dates, that can change between one step and the next, she compares borders to doors that can be wide open or tightly closed. Most fall somewhere between, and in what quickly becomes a riveting exhibition of cleanly drawn, sharply observed cultural, architectural, and racial diversity, painted scenes large and small—each modern locale discreetly identified—offer example after example of small figures posing near accurately drawn gateways, bridges, and checkpoints, or regarding one another over many types of fences and walls. Some juxtapositions are particularly compelling, like smiling flag wavers welcoming visitors to the new country of East Timor placed opposite a line of marchers holding Palestinian flags. Not to mention a full-page view of a street crossing the U.S./Canada border, blocked off by just a row of flowerpots, pointedly facing a towering, ugly fence separating the U.S. from Mexico. Still, as the author notes, for all the pretentions of governments, wildlife, smog, greenhouse gases, and radiation from nuclear accidents cross borders with impunity—and so it is that on closing pages the travelogue gives way to a crucial reminder that we live on one, connected world.

A powerful message, paired to art that rewards closer looks.