Tucson Standard

The University of Arizona's Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry is collaborating with local artists and communities on the Arizona-Sonora, Mexico border, awarding more than $40,000 to 20 Mexican through the Fronteridades grant program since its inception in 2019.

According to a release from UA, the Fronteridades program selects artists with the collaboration of the cultural arts center Imfoculta and the Museo de Arte in Nogales, which houses some of the art depicting life along the U.S.-Mexico border. 

"Our team has been very intentional about building relationships with communities and giving them the resources and opportunities needed to allow for a bigger platform in which their voices can be heard," Confluencenter director Javier Duran said in the release. "In this binational art program, our aim isn't directing artists with what to do; we are simply giving them the resources and platform to do so."

One of the artists chosen for the program is Antonio Lucero, also known as Tony Plak, a Nogales native who is known for large, colorful desert landscapes. Lucero created a mural titled "Coyotes, Camino a la Libertad" on the wall of Casino Nogales, near the border's Mariposa DeConcini port of entry, the release stated.

"Through my artwork, I want people to know Ambos Nogales is more than a border wall," Lucero said. "It is a place where cultures meet; we are a makeup of colors, food, people and much more."

Ambos Nogales - Spanish for "both Nogales" - is a reference to the twin cities of Nogales, Sonora, and Nogales, Arizona, Lucero added.

"This partnership brings together a space for thought and conversation between all community members and allows us to humanize ourselves," Lucero added. "Art feeds the soul, not only visually but it helps us to change the routine from day to day and adds to our spaces, giving us more colorful days and leaving seeds of happiness and encouragement for locals and tourists to see."

Elena Vega is another artist who received a grant from the program in 2020.

"My project was named after a pre-Hispanic legend that speaks on the birth of the first nopal (prickly pear)," she said. "This story had a personal impact on me, and I wanted to translate that to the Ambos Nogales landscape. You can see there is the depiction of the border fence, the desert, and, below, the Santa Cruz River."

Fronteridades was funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the release stated.