Terra Llantera: Placemaking and Finding Home In the Borderlands, With Photos By Vivian Grimes

Terra Llantera: Placemaking and Finding Home in the Borderlands, with Photos by Vivian Grimes is a work of collaboration through and through. It is a narrative nonfiction, photo essay, and collection of research. Through these various lenses, the hidden world of Tijuana’s trash and tire-based construction is revealed in stunning fashion. A fascinating cycle of use, disposal, and reuse of tires and trash plays out in massive scale along the border between the United States and Mexico. In the city of Tijuana, impermanent communities often adopt materials that have been cast off by people and re-purpose them to build houses, parks, and a stable life for themselves. The alternative is something akin to an ecological disaster waiting to happen. The social implications of this unique ecological and economic dynamic are far from obvious, and are not trivial.