Charlotte Jackson Fine Art

The art of James Drake lives in the borderlands. This is not just because so much of his work of the past 40 years has been inspired, in theme and content, by Drake's time living along the Mexican border in El Paso. The borderlands are not just an imaginary line drawn through the sand between two countries. Borders mark the lines of tension created by perceived opposites, the places where desires meet.

Que Linda la Brisa is an exhibition of drawings focused on the human figure. The majority of the pieces in the exhibition are a new interpretation of Drake's photo-series of twenty years ago which focused on the population of transgender sex workers who live and work in Ciudad Juarez on the border across from El Paso. Drake, who had long worked in Juarez, was introduced to this community through a charity he was connected with. Over four years, Drake traveled across the border to meet these women, talking with them, learning about their daily lives and routines, photographing and filming them.

Some of these images, adapted and reinterpreted, are included within the drawings, along with words and lines from Drake's poetry. Like poetry, these works are visually layered - each image, each word, taking on a multiplicity of meanings and shades. Male/Female. Mexican/American. Seen/Unseen. Drake's work itself becomes a borderland where these seeming opposites meet, dance, bleed through, and blossom with a thousand inflections and complexities.

Que Linda la Brisa is an exhibition of drawings focused on the human figure, the majority of which are a new interpretation of Drake's photo-series which focused on the population of transgender sex workers who live and work in Ciudad Juarez.