Peter Yang - Once upon a line

Research

Overview

Where I Started

Project Brief

The project begins with concertina wire installed on the Mexico-US border wall in Nogales, Arizona, then follows the material beyond the image of a single border line.
The wire traveled across a global chain of extraction, processing, shipping, and fortification, connecting Brazil, China, California, Arizona, and the international border.

Research Question

Once Upon A Line asks what happens when a border is seen not as one line, but as many lines extending, crossing, colliding, and burrowing through social, political, economic, ecological, and technological systems.
The digital essay traces the material life of concertina wire to reveal the global collaboration required to keep people apart.

What I Did

Research and Visualization

Contributed to material research and graphic design for a multimedia narrative about concertina wire and border infrastructure.
Helped translate material, political, economic, ecological, and technological histories into a visual structure for the digital essay.
Worked with the team to shape the project's research references, narrative flow, visual language, and archived documentation.

Research Direction

Material complexity

Reframed the border as a distributed material system rather than a single geographic line.

Narrative visualization

Used research and graphic design to make hidden supply chains and historical forces easier to follow.