Photos by Jennifer Pittinger
A massive joint protest took place in Austin at the state Capitol on April 4, along with a floating protest on the Rio Grande at Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park. Well-known locals and longtime river outfitters came out in force.
At one point during the protest, several individuals gathered in the middle of the river and held painted cardboard cutouts of area animals brandishing “No Wall” signs around their necks. Their vibrant coloring and painted lines were brilliantly illustrative, and I fell in love with them right away. A whole set of these wonderful cardboard animal cutouts even traveled to the Austin protest at the Capitol.
Every one of those animals represented will be cut off from the river and their main water source if the border wall is built.
I spoke with Ashley Mahaney of Terlingua that day, and she invited me, along with anyone else who wanted to help, to come visit the “Cardboard Zoo Collective” in Terlingua and help build these beautiful river creatures. She also generously gave me a beaver and a baby javelina to take with me.
On Friday, I took off with another photographer, Victor Kulagin of Alpine, at first light and headed south to Terlingua. We were both excited to finally put some of our angst regarding this whole border wall plan to good use and make some cool protest signs. We arrived at a massive, stone airplane hangar behind Bee Mountain and were blown away at this tiny-but-mighty setup for artistic protest. For weeks, Mahaney and her friend C.R. Farmer, along with a few others, have been working overtime to build their creations.
The atmosphere was electric—dogs running around stepping on freshly painted signs, to which the girls would just laugh and say, “It is the Zoo Collective, after all.” Several others, like retired Big Bend National Park Ranger Mike Ryan, showed up as well, bringing supplies like cardboard, plywood, beer and water for the hot day. My colleague, Kulagin, made three different animals, and he didn’t want to stop! The girls stated that this was the biggest gathering so far for building animals.
Both Mahaney and Farmer are active in their Terlingua community. The girls are both part of the Terlingua Burlesque Troupe, which hosts local events and fundraisers. Another troupe member, lifelong local Brittany Lowe, has also helped with building protest signs. Lowe’s family has been influential in the Terlingua community for decades. These ladies are literally fighting for their backyards to remain open and free spaces.
Farmer also volunteers at a local nonprofit, One Tail at a Time West Texas. She has been fostering pets for the last few years. I asked her how the animal sign project started. “We were just talking to each other in a group chat one day. We wanted to make a difference, that’s all,” she says. “We were inspired to build the animals from a recent burlesque show the Terlingua troupe had put on called ‘Our Desert After Dark.’”
Farmer also fought hard against the new Dollar General Store in Study Butte. She wants to see this area have the lightest building footprint possible. “The allure and magic of the Big Bend is its wildness,” Farmer says. “These types of wild and free places where people can escape from the noise and overdevelopment of their gridlocked lives to reconnect with their peace and the primal heartbeat of Mother Nature are critically endangered. The spiritual privilege of being able to paddle the river and spend time in those holy cathedrals that are the remote canyons along the Rio Grande is a type of freedom and soul-rejuvenation that everyone deserves to experience in this life. A wall is a direct affront to the life-force and liberty of the American people as well as a death sentence to the many beloved animals here who rely on the river to survive.”
Mahaney got her B.A. in fine arts and studio art from the University of Texas. Her skills in illustrative art are what have been bringing these animal cardboard cut-outs to life. She has been surprised by all the attention they are receiving. “I’m fighting for my neighbors, the donkeys, coyotes and all the animals we share this ecosystem with,” she says. “We all came to this beautiful place for nature, and it’s worth protecting even if it’s not popular with the politicians.”
I can’t wait to go back and help build more animal protest signs. Both women welcome anyone to join future sign-making meetings. They feel it’s a great way to help with the stress and uncertainty we are all coping with during this tension-filled time. “Our communities have the fight of our lives on our hands, but there is hope that if we stick together and remain community strong, we can beat this wall,” Ryan says.
