Vigilance

An installation of six coats made of industrial grey felt.

Maps of the border regions between Canada and the U.S. are printed on the pattern pieces of each jacket. The distinguishing cartographic feature of these map fragments is the elimination of the border between the two countries. Wren’s inquiry has led her to conflate the symbols of cartography and the body as it relates to personal and political identity.  Combining Canada and the United States, Vigilance invokes a questioning of a borderless society on sociological, economic, and political grounds. These bodiless jackets stand like sentinels, conjuring memories of walls dividing and defending historical borders, as well as the recent politics of protecting the boundary between Canada and the U.S.