A new art exhibition titled “Occupy Thirdspace III: The Park” opens at San Diego’s Central Library, focusing on International Friendship Park, a state park at the western end of the U.S.-Mexico border. Co-curated by Sara Solaimani and Natalia Ventura, the show features three artist collectives—Las Comadres, Art Made Between Opposite Sides (AMBOS), and Friends of International Friendship Park—to visually tell the park’s story. The park opened in 1971 as a meeting place for families divided by the border but has been closed on the U.S. side since 2020, while remaining open on the Mexico side. The exhibition is the third installment in Solaimani’s series exploring Henri Lefebvre’s concept of “third spaces” as symbolic sites that challenge systems of power.
The exhibition matters because it highlights the ongoing suppression of public gathering spaces in San Diego, from the closure of Friendship Park to budget cuts for libraries and new parking fees at Balboa Park. By centering transborder art practices and collective action, the show argues that communities must creatively reclaim third spaces, especially during times of political suppression. It also connects local border struggles to global issues of apartheid and migration, grounding abstract academic theory in real-world activism. The involvement of collectives with deep ties to the site underscores the role of art in documenting and resisting border policies that separate families and communities.