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Due to climate change, the Arctic Ocean’s summer ice cover is now half of what it was 50 years ago. Because of this, many countries are looking at the Arctic with new interests. In 2007, a mini-submarine carrying Artur Chilingarov, a Russian parliamentarian and veteran explorer, descended into the ice-covered sea at the North Pole, extended its robotic arm, and planted a Russian flag on the sea floor. Méndez’s El Norte is a critique on the prevailing ‘15th century colonial attitude’ and in particular, its relation to the current geopolitics of the North Pole. El Norte—the futile conquest of the North Pole by the artist herself—also points to the ambivalence of the Mexican migrants’ ‘dream vs. reality’ experience in their journey north to the United States for a better life.

Captured in high definition video at Abandoned, Spitzbergen Island, Svalbard Archipelago.





El Norte, 2013; video projection: high definition video screened as single channel video projected at architectural scale, color. 4:26 minutes. Installation view: C.O.L.A. 2013 at Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, 2013.


El Norte, 2013; Archival inkjet print.



Exhibition History:

IV Bienal Ciudad Juárez / El Paso Biennial 2015. Group exhibition. Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez and El Paso Museum of Art. October 11, 2015 – January 24, 2016. Curated by Eduardo Díaz, director of the Smithsonian Latino Center in Washington, D.C., and Santiago Espinosa de los Monteros, curator, museographer and art critic in Mexico City.

C.O.L.A. 2013 Exhibition, May 19, 2013–July 20, 2013, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California, curated by Scott Canty (group).

Collection:

El Norte, 2013 was acquired by El Paso Museum of Art in 2015.