Children play on seesaws installed through US-Mexico border
One of the creators said the plan - drawn up 10 years ago - was "filled with joy, excitement and togetherness".
Wednesday 31 July 2019 13:46, UK
Children on both sides of the US-Mexico border have been able to play together, thanks to a set of seesaws being temporarily installed across it.
The large pink toys were set up by a group of academics to show "the actions that take place on one side have a direct consequence on the other side".
Citizens from both countries were pictured laughing and taking turns on them, even lifting and pushing others up to make more dramatic jumps.
The design known as a "Teeter-Totter Wall" was created by Ronald Rael, an architecture professor, and Virginia San Fratello, an associate professor of design.
It has been 10 years in the making - originally conceived in the pages of the book Borderwall as Architecture, which the University of California describes as using "humour and inventiveness to address the futility of building barriers".
When the big day came, Mr Rael and his team transported the seesaws to Sunland Park, New Mexico.
The area is separated by a slatted steel fence from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, on the other side of the border.
Mr Rael called it "one of the most incredible expeirences... filled with joy, excitement and togetherness" that included no advance planning on the Mexican side.
He added: "The wall became a literal fulcrum for US-Mexico relations and children and adults were connected in meaningful ways on both sides with the recognition that the actions that take place on one side have a direct consequence on the other side."
The wall is a highly-charged political issue, given the number of people who cross illegally between the US and Mexico.
Last week, Donald Trump won the right to spend $2.5m (£2m) to build a section of wall along it, after a high court ruling overturned previous decisions by the lower courts to block the cash.
The legal battle began when the US president took cash from other government departments after Congress only gave him about a quarter of the money he was looking for.
Wall projects will now begin in Arizona, California and New Mexico.
Building a wall was one of Mr Trump's centrepiece pledges in the 2016 presidential election campaign - but at the time he claimed it would be paid for by Mexico, not American taxpayers.