Snug as a bug

Polvo’s “echelon: who is watching you?” is a provocative group show addressing the issue of government surveillance. Artist Noelle Mason designed a wool carpet, Ground Control (left), using thermal imagery of the border taken by NASA. She hired Mexico-based textile artists to make the rug in exchange for the amount of money it would cost a family of four to be illegally transported across the U.S./Mex border.—Ruth Lopez