Dangerous Boundaries

When I worked in prison I saw a lot of this and never saw any beauty in it. Razor wire is attached in spirals above barbed wire fences in prison so if an inmate tries to escape the guards can follow the blood trail to him. It isn't as much of a deterrent as you'd think. Inmates have thought they could protect themselves from the razor edges by wrapping a shirt or jacket over them. It doesn't work. They still get all cut up.

Now as a photographer my work takes me to the wide open spaces of the Sonoran Desert. This fence is along one path to the desert protecting a large irrigation canal, and keeping foolish people from jumping in the water or throwing trash in it. One day I looked back along the path and the afternoon light accentuated the patterns in the dangerous wire. Finding a spot where several loops were missing I stood in between the spirals to shoot directly into what looks like a deadly tunnel lined with razor blades. You can bet I was very, very careful!

To put it all in perspective, I grew up in a place without any fences at all. Every yard blended into the next with only a few trees marking boundary lines. Now I live in a place and world where there are fences everywhere. No wonder people are so divided.