Pink SeeSaws Installed Through US-Mexico Border Wall Win Prestigious UK Designing Prize

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The teeter totters, designed by two California based architects were installed in 2019
The artwork allowed for people from both countries to play together
The artwork was awarded the 2020 Beazley Design of the Year award by London’s Design Museum

A collection of striking pink seesaws installed through the slats of the U.S.-Mexico border wall has won the London’s Design Museum’s prestigious best design of the year prize for 2020.

The teeter-totters that allowed for people of both countries to play together reportedly beat 74 projects from around the world, to be awarded the 2020 Beazley Design of the Year award Tuesday.

The artwork, designed by California-based architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello with help from Mexico-based art collective Colectivo Chopeke, was put up in July 2019 amid heated debate over Trump intending to build a physical barrier between the two countries to stem illegal infiltration.

"We are totally surprised by this unexpected honor," Rael said in an Instagram post. "Most importantly, it comes at a time when we are hopeful for change and that we start building more bridges instead of walls."

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The seesaws were placed through the sections of the wall with one seat in Sunland Park, New Mexico, and the other in Ciudad Juárez, New Mexico.

"The Teeter-Totter Wall encouraged new ways of human connection. It remains an inventive and poignant reminder of how human beings can transcend the forces that seek to divide us," Tim Marlow, chief executive and director of London’s Design Museum, told BBC.

The project was a tool for the designers to address Trump's aggressive immigration policies with humor. The border-turned-junction point let the Anapra community in Mexico connect with their neighbors.

"It was peaceful and fun — a day at a park for the children and mothers of Anapra," Rael told NPR News. "Everyone was very happy and excited to engage the seesaws."

"The project resonated with people around the world in a way that we didn't anticipate," the outlet quoted San Fratello, as saying. "It speaks to the fact that most people are excited about being together, and about optimism and about the possibility and the future. And the divisiveness actually comes from the minority."