CONTINENTAL DIVIDE
Exhibit
Continental Divide is an exhibit of 30 large canvas photo prints that depict the land, wildlife and people of the borderlands of the United States and Mexico, and the impact that construction of a border wall is having on them. The images in the exhibit were taken primarily during a three and a half week expedition with photographers of the International League of Conservation Photographers along the 2000-mile border between the United States and Mexico. The expedition included 13 photographers from both countries, as well as a group of scientists and filmmakers, who documented a diverse range of borderlands flora, fauna and cultures.
The exhibit debuted in April 2009 in the Rayburn House Office Building of the United States Congress, hosted by Representative Raul Grijalva. Since then Continental Divide has traveled to dozens of locations nationwide, including the US House and Senate, many universities, galleries, film festivals and other venues. It has been seen by more than 5,000 viewers from South Dakota to Washington DC, by small town residents, Hollywood celebrities, senators and land managers. More details about the exhibit are below.
If you are interested in showing the exhibit, please contact curator and facilitator, Krista Schlyer.
Road cut by US Border Patrol in violation of the Wilderness Act, Otay Mountain Wilderness, California. Photo by Roy Toft.
Boy playing near the border wall at the Pacific Ocean. Photo by Kevin Schafer
Musicians playing on the Mexican side of the border wall, Tijuana/San Diego. Photo by Krista Schlyer.
Border wall through the Gran Desierto, Sonora, MX/California, US. Photo by Kevin Schafer
El Pinacate Biosphere Reserve, Sonora, Mexico. Photo by Jack Dykinga
Border wall cutting through pristine desert in Sonora, MX/Arizona, US. Photo by Jack Dykinga.
Caldera in the El Pinacate Biosphere Reserve. Photo by Miguel Angel de la Cueva
A rare year round water hole just north of the border in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona. Photo by Krista Schlyer.
Mergansers in a desert oasis just south of the US-Mexico border. Photo by Roy Toft.
Tijuana Estuary. Photo by Roy Toft
A saguaro cactus, keystone of the Sonoran Desert. Photo by Chris Linder.
Young girl with her donkey in the arid hills of the Chihuahuan Desert, Mexico borderlands. Photo by Miguel Angel de la Cueva.
Border wall fragmenting some of the last native habitat in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, protected by the National Wildlife Refuge System. The wall a violation of dozens of environmental laws. Photo by Wendy Shattil.
A young javelina in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Photo by Wendy Shattil.
Teddy bear cholla cactus in El Pinacate Biosphere Reserve on the Mexico-United States border. Photo by Claudio Contreras Koob.
Previous Shows
April 2009 – Exhibit premiers in the United States House of Representatives, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington DC
May 2009 - Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, Jackson Hole, WY
June-July 2009 – Southwest Environmental Center, Las Cruces, NM
August 2009 - Gateway Arts District, Brentwood, MD
September 2009 - The Arts Center, Greenwood, SC
November 2009 – United States Senate, Russell Rotunda, Washington DC
December 2009 - Historic YWCA, Tucson, AZ
December 2009 – Bisbee, AZ
January 2010 - G2 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
March 2010 - UC-Mexus at University of California-Riverside, CA
May 2010 - Yale School of Forestry, New Haven, CT
September 2010 - Washington Street Arts Center, Vermillion, SD
November 2020 – Jackson, MS
December 2010 - Buchanan Museum of Fine Art, Buchanan, MI
Spring 2011 - Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ.October 2012 - Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff, AZ
June 2014 - Olney Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
December 2015 - University of Colorado, Wildlife Experience Museum, Denver, CO
February 2016 - Boston University School of Theology, Boston, MA
2017 - Historic YWCA, Tucson AZ
Spring 2018 - Mexican Consulate, Tucson, AZ
June 2018 – United States Senate, Russel Rotunda, Washington DC
Fall 2018 - Yale Divinity School, New Haven, CT
December 2018 – Vassar, Poughkeepsie, NY
March - 2019 - Bard College, Annandale-on-the-Hudson, NY
October 2019 - SUNY New Paltz, NY
Fall 2022 -Elon University, NC
September- November 2024 University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
The Olney Gallery in Phoenix exhibited Continental Divide: Borderlands Wildlife, People and the Wall in June 2014. This exhibit included a display of items abandoned by migrants in the harsh Sonoran Desert.
In Spring 2018, the borderlands exhibit was shown at the Mexican Consulate in Tucson, Arizona.
In October 2019, the exhibit showed at SUNY New Paltz, New York.
In June 2018, the exhibit was installed in the United States Senate, sponsored by Senator Martin Heinrich (pictured with Marybeth Beetham of Defenders of Wildlife (left) and Krista Schlyer (right). The exhibit showed in the Russel Rotunda and a reception was organized by Krista, Defenders of Wildlife, Sierra Club, Earth Justice, the Center for Biological Diversity and other partners. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (above) spoke at the reception, along with Senator Heinrich and Senator Tom Udall.
For more information
If you’d like to learn more about the exhibit or to inquire about hosting a show, please contact me using this form.