Lattice Detour, a wall for peace

In New York, the contemporary artist Héctor Zamora erected a wall. However, his work means much more than it seems.

A wall to divide 

In the contemporary political universe, the wall has a strong symbolism of exclusion, division, and rejection of the other. The one in construction on the border between the United States and Mexico is a perfect example of this.

But Héctor Zamora, a Mexican artist, reverses this conception with his new work, Lattice Detour. This arched wall eleven feet high and 100 feet wide is installed on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from August 29 to December 7, 2020.

At first glance, there is only a gigantic wall, frustratingly blocking the magnificent view of Central Park. But as you approach it, you can see that the bricks are hollow, letting air and light through. The massive wall becomes fragile, aesthetic. It opens up space, glorifies permeability rather than opacity, sharing rather than closure.

A message of fraternity

The pierced wall invites interaction rather than withdrawal. If it divides the space, it allows us to become aware of what is on the other side. On the one hand, the sun shines through the bricks, drawing new ephemeral patterns on the floor as the day progresses. But above all, the artist looks for interaction between people on either side of the wall, who guess each other, play with the bricks, and what they let see.

Zamora goes even further, using bricks made and bought in Mexico, which resonates with Donald Trump’s wall. For him, the city is a social space, not just an architectural one. You have to ask who makes the city, not just what it looks like. In this case, it was Mexican and American workers who together built this symbol of openness. Héctor Zamora defends an open world, the discovery of the other, rather than the withdrawal and compartmentalization of individuals.

Sources: New York Times, Archpaper, The Met 

Photographs credits: The Metropolitan Museum of Art/ Anna-Marie Kellen

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