The Subsection of the Eagle materializes the aesthetic language of intimidation utilized by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement into a publication and accompanying posters. The publication considers the comprehensive statement the United States makes through their approach towards Latin American immigration. Legislature, fences, vehicles, technology, materials, surveillance, weapons, and the border structures themselves all contribute to the broad vernacular of U.S. southern border affairs.

The publication contains two formats: 6 ¼’ x 8 ⅓’ glossy within 9’ x 12’ newsprint. The large format pages are digital infrared photographs captured on a Canon 6D, with a Lee 87 red camera filter. Each exposure is 30 seconds, with a high aperture and ISO. The images mimic the cutting edge, incredibly expensive, and military-grade cameras the U.S. Border Patrol utilizes to do their job. The type on the small format pages is put through a simple program to shuffle each sentence, using the complete Secure Fence Act of 2006 as input. While none of the sentences are coherent, the shuffling is meant to instill a sense of confusion, anger, and inaccessibility to the sharp, non-human language of legal prose. Finally, the three centeral spreads are visceral digital paintings, that express the grim, yet not completely devoid of hope, climate of border politics.

R&D: The Aesthetic Language of Intimidation

Electromagnetic Spectrum Showing Recorded Wavelengths Between Civilian Infrared Technology And Military Grade Surveillance Equipment

The graph above is measured in nanometers. The TacFLIR® 280-HD records wavelengths between 3-5 µm or 3000 to 5000 nm (middle wavelength infrared). My LEE 87 infrared camera filter blocks wavelengths below 730 nm, therefore transfering near and shortwave infrared wavelengths to an equiped camera’s sensor. The TacFLIR® 280-HD Imaging System instantaneously reads heat signatures for surveillance while a Canon 6D equipped with a LEE 87 infrared filter requires a 30 second exposure time to record wavelengths on the lower end of the infrared radiation spectrum. Camera’s like the TacFLIR® 280-HD Imaging System are utilized by the United States Border Patrol.