Non-profit art collaborative using craft to promote cross-border relations returns to Los Angeles

Every visitor to Frieze Los Angeles this year should make sure to stop in on the dedicated space for non-profits, where six organisations with social impact at their heart are hosting presentations. Included among these is Ambos (Art Made Between Opposite Sides), an artist collaborative that uses craft as a means of forging connections—and promoting healing—among communities on the US-Mexico border.This is Ambos’s third time at the fair, and this year it is raising funds for its Ambos Ceramics programme, taught at two LGBTQ+ migrant shelters in Tijuana. On display are ceramics made by students—presented on a striking blue “tree of life” sculpture and on sale for prices ranging from $50 to $250—as well as other works created in collaboration with professional ceramicists. Clothing racks, meanwhile, are filled with colourful sweaters and tops, embroidered by residents of 14 other shelters and dyed by the Ambos founder Tanya Aguiñiga in her studio.The stand also includes clothing embroidered by shelter residents and dyed by Ambos founder Tanya Aguiñiga, who is also an artistAguiñiga, a fibre artist, launched Ambos in 2016 in response to Donald Trump’s rhetoric around immigrants and immigration during his first run for president. Her organisations began working solely in Tijuana before expanding to encompass projects along the entirety of the border, forming a network of people and organisations on both sides. The work Ambos does is varied—from fundraising for critical supplies to throwing parties and festivals for children. Art-making is a critical part of all of it, offering a means of expression and relief.“There are so many different issues people are facing on the border, and people never really think about how you give people a voice, how you give people a little bit of respite from the massive journey and sacrifice that they’ve made to come over here,” Aguiñiga says. “We never dictate what people should make, we just let them express themselves.”Ambos is in the Non-Profits and Bookshops space at Frieze Los Angeles until Sunday 3 March