US President Donald Trump’s promise to build a wall along the US-Mexico border is among the most high-profile and controversial policies from his presidential run. While many took to the streets to protest the wall and Trump’s policies on immigration in general, others are taking more creative routes of resistance.

World renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is set to install more than 100 pieces of fence-inspired artwork across New York City as part of a project called, “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors.” Set to open on October 12 until February 11, 2018, the effort is meant to send a message about how walls and fences divide humanity in a greater sense, beyond the actual, physical separation.    

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“The fence has always been a tool in the vocabulary of political landscaping and evokes associations with words like ‘border,’ ‘security,’ and ‘neighbor,’ which are connected to the current global political environment,” Ai said in a statement. “But what’s important to remember is that while barriers have been used to divide us, as humans we are all the same. Some are more privileged than others, but with that privilege comes a responsibility to do more.”

Ai’s work confronts isn’t simply an outlet for personal expression but a means of addressing the paranoia and jingoism that has spread throughout the world, and forces a recognition of those who are hurt most as a result.

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As part of its 40th anniversary celebration, the Public Art Fund has commissioned 10 major installations throughout the five boroughs, including Essex Street Market (Lower East Side), Cooper Union (Astor Place), JCDecaux bus shelters (Brooklyn), Doris Freedman Plaza (Central Park), and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (Queens).

“When the Berlin Wall fell, there were 11 countries with border fences and walls,” Ai told the New York Times. “By 2016, that number had increased to 70. We are witnessing a rise in nationalism, an increase in the closure of borders, and an exclusionary attitude towards migrants and refugees, the victims of war and the casualties of globalization.”

Much of Ai’s work is based on the current refugee crisis. His previous projects include an installation of 14,000 refugee life jackets in Berlin, and recreating the devastating photograph of Alan Kurdi, a 3-year-old Kurdish Syrian refugee whose drowned body washed up on a Turkish beach on September 2, 2015.

He was detained by Beijing police for 81 days in 2011 for criticizing the Chinese government, though he was never officially charged.

Ai’s latest effort plays off the Robert Frost poem, “Mending Wall,” which features the line “Good fences make good neighbors.” The statement has become a common colloquialism that has, ironically, taken on a meaning opposite of the poem’s intention when decontextualized. Ai is returning to the original wryness of the phrase, while also showing the tragic results when it’s adopted as policy.

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As a focal point in the national immigration point, New York is a suitable place for the exhibit. Mayor Bill de Blasio has reaffirmed the Big Apple’s status as a sanctuary city, going so far as to tell public schools to refuse entry to Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents without a judge-approved warrant.

Though Attorney General Jeff Sessions has threatened to cut federal funding to sanctuary cities, de Blasio is resolved to take the issue to court.

“Ai Weiwei’s ‘Good Fences Make Good Neighbors’ serves as a reminder to all New Yorkers that although barriers may attempt to divide us, we must unite to make a meaningful impact on the larger community,” de Blasio said in a statement. “This expansive public art project that explores themes of freedom and the power of self-expression is a perfect symbol and reminder for all of us, especially in the current political climate.”

In addition to scapegoating immigrants, Trump has repeatedly blamed China for hurting the US economy.

Fittingly, a Chinese artist is leading the creative resistance against Trump’s isolationist agenda.  

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Forget the Border Wall. 100 Fences Are About to Pop Up Around New York City

By James O'Hare