Ronald Rael, Virginia San Fratello (Rael San Fratello). Teeter-Totter.

Ronald Rael, Virginia San Fratello (Rael San Fratello). Teeter-Totter Wall. 2014. Etching, 24 × 30" (61 × 76.2 cm). Fund for the Twenty-First Century

Since the early 2000s, architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello (Rael San Fratello) have developed numerous proposals for interventions and alternatives to the United States-Mexico border wall. Many of their designs were inspired by stories of “people who, on both sides of the border, transform the wall, challenging its existence in remarkably creative ways.” They range from playful (xylophone, volleyball net) and infrastructural (water treatment, solar panels) to resourceful (library, birthing center) and natural (cactus, wildlife).

United States President Donald Trump’s push to extend the border wall and implement a family separation policy compelled Rael San Fratello to bring one of their proposals to life. On July 28, 2019, they installed three pink teeter totters into the border wall for families to play on. This design also serves as a metaphor, as Rael said, of the “border as a literal fulcrum between US-Mexico relations,” with “actions that take place on one side of a teeter totter [having] direct consequence on the other side.” For an hour, a small section of the wall between New Mexico and Mexico became a site of joyful connection rather than violent division.

Ronald Rael, Virginia San Fratello (Rael San Fratello). Teeter-Totter Wall (2014)