Between borders

Abstract

Between Borders is a photographic series developed by Jéssica Bittencourt based on a field experience carried out in May 2025, during her doctoral studies at the Institute of Architecture and Urbanism at USP. The project was born without initial planning, from the experience and observation of daily life on the International Friendship Bridge — a structure that connects Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil) to Ciudad del Este (Paraguay). At the time, the researcher was investigating the impacts of the construction of large infrastructures on the territory, focusing on the Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant, located on the Paraná River, between the two countries.

The photographic series emerges from the intersection between visual arts and urban research, and seeks to explore the symbolic, spatial and everyday meanings of border zones. The bridge is portrayed as an "in-between place": an ambiguous and transitory territory, where people, goods and gestures constantly circulate, but where almost nothing is fixed. The project proposes a sensitive reading of the border as a space of flow and tension, where anonymity, resistance, control and improvisation coexist. The images that make up Between Borders do not merely document a geographical area, but focus on the ordinary and repeated gestures that shape the daily experience of this territory. The aesthetic approach combines distance and intimacy, aiming to reveal the political and poetic power of these fragments of life in transit.

By addressing the border not only as a dividing line, but as a fabric woven by movement, the work is part of the debate on the appropriation of space and the border condition as an urban and social experience. Due to its experimental nature, the project also contributes to methodological reflections that integrate artistic practices and academic research, expanding the possibilities for reading and representing contemporary territories.