Mendes Wood DM presents “100 dollars” (2011) and “One Rupee For My Country” (2006), by Paulo Nazareth.
In 100 dollars, Paulo Nazareth stamps 100 one-dollar bills in Tijuana, a border city between Mexico and the United States. While Nazareth films his act of stamping the notes with his “Arte Contemporânea Ltda” seal, he listens to a story that a passing woman tells him, about work and everyday life. As the artist walks in flip-flops towards the United States, he never washes his feet, collecting the soil of all the countries he passes through on his migration north to the US.
His feet are the locus of his performance, conceptually sewing politically divided ground back together. During the walk, he hands out the dollar bills to the locals until he is interrupted by guards asking for his documentation.