Borderline - Ian Wieczorek - contemporary visual artist

The series of photographs, Borderline, documents a series of artistic interventions by the artist in various locations in the West of Ireland in 2021, exploring the act of imposing ‘borders’ in different geographical terrains using wooden 30cm ‘Czech hedgehogs’ (anti-vehicle obstacles) as demarcations.

Borderline reflects the way in which geopolitical borders have been imposed throughout history (both internationally and more locally), the physical demarcation of territory as a means of ownership, separation or othering. But borders have always been porous. However rigorously they are enforced, people have always traversed such barriers. While more recent events have brought this phenomenon into sharper focus, such ‘transgressive’ behaviour has existed since time immemorial as an integral part of human endeavour.