In January 1917, German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann sent a secret telegram proposing a military alliance with Mexico should the United States enter World War I. In exchange, Mexico would reclaim lost territories—Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The message also warned of Germany’s imminent resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, a strategy that threatened civilian ocean liners and signaled a dramatic escalation in global conflict.

Proposition reconstructs this moment of covert diplomacy and geopolitical brinkmanship. Steamships drift across the canvas like silent witnesses, their presence evoking both industrial might and looming vulnerability. Fragmented numbers and cryptic phrases echo the telegram’s encoded format, while a ledger-like table simulates the decoding process undertaken by British intelligence in Room 40.

Handwritten fragments such as “Mexico in Texas” introduce flashes of political ambition and speculative history. The decoded telegram—now public—helped galvanize American support for war and marked a turning point in the 20th century’s global narrative.

As part of Jenkins’s Secret Codes series, Proposition invites viewers to experience the tension between secrecy and revelation. It’s not just a visual interpretation—it’s a reenactment of how information, once hidden, reshaped borders, alliances, and lives.