Louis Hock

Louis Hock is an artist who began using video casually as a way to interact with his Mexican neighbors. Looking for a cheap place to live, Hock moved into an apartment complex in San Diego’s affluent north county, into a building known as La Colonia (or The Colony) after the 80 workers and their families from Mexico that lived there. Over the course of two years, Hock collected photographs and video footage of the men, women, and children of La Colonia as he became their friend. The resulting videos testifies to the complexity of these people’s ambivalent status in the U.S., tracing their stories of frequent border crossings and daily fear of Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) raids. Hock has also worked with Elizabeth Sisco and David Avalos to produce several public art events on border topics, most recently Arte Reembolso (Art Rebate) in 1993.