Dead End

Among the many human constructs, the border is undoubtedly among those that have the most impact on communities and the demarcation of the earth’s geography. The one between the United States and Mexico is paradigmatic and, therefore, widely documented and explored by cinema and photography. The volume ‘Dead End’ by Nicola Moscelli observes it differently. How? By intersecting the arbitrary street view of “Pegman” spatiality with as many material guidelines (historical and literary, for example) that expand its definition. The border is not just a superficial or administrative outline but a living tissue innervated by relationships that increase its plot and understanding. Through its design, the book accommodates reciprocity and pushes the reader to cross the border at will. “Dead End” bears the title. Thousands of these roads end abruptly on the border. Moscelli has mapped many of them; in common, they have the aftertaste of an interrupted story, suspended magic, and a meaning lost in nothingness. The author gives them a perspective through textual incursions, quotes, and insights. The readings by Maceo Montoya, Miriam Ticktin, and Steve Bisson complete the vision. The investigation opens up a method that appropriates visual findings and computational waste to relaunch the border as an interpretative, conceptual, and optical device. Welcome to the new “scopic” archeology that uses images as fossils of social memory.