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WOMEN beyond borders

To honor and document women’s voices and visions
To encourage dialogue and collaboration
To inspire creative expression

FOUNDER’S STATEMENT

BUILDING COMMUNITY AS THE ART FORM

Lorraine Drammer Serena

M.F.A. & B.A., University of California Santa Barbara
Artistic Director / Founder / Artist
LorraineSerena.com

The arts are a universal and essential language, allowing people to look beyond themselves and celebrate their humanity.

Women Beyond Borders embraces the possibility that women are honored for their untold voices and visions, and that women support one another in this quest. This endeavor is more than an exhibition, it has become a catalyst for dialogue, inclusion, and collaboration.

The myriad box creations have roamed the world, traveling from historic museums to a temple in Kathmandu, a 15th century villa in Umbria, a historic train car in Europe, and a hilltop museum in Japan. WBB has been accessible to thousands of viewers through these diverse venues where participating artists have gathered to meet, celebrate, and exchange ideas. Each exhibition was unique as coordinators reinvented the project along the way, inviting anthropologists and art historians to speak and poets to reflect . . . . .
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In light of the world situation, we move forward with even greater conviction that women’s voices and visions are a healing force in the world. – Lorraine Serena
Women Beyond Borders are proud to announce that we have opened a new exhibition in Taiwan in conjunction with Red Room, a community-driven creative arts platform fostering inter-generational, cross-cultural expression. The Exhibition is entitled Formosa Tales, hosting the works of well over 70 artists. The exhibition was opened to the public at the Cloud Forest Gallery 27M in Taipei for International Women’s Day on Monday, March 8th, 2021 and will travel all across the island in the future! For more information, visit our Journal Page on the Exhibition.
An Interview with Lorraine

All of our images can move us into a deeper awareness of one another, of our world, of the validity of our images and our voices. Record them, remember them, show them to the world. – Lorraine Serena
Lorraine’s Studio Tour
Filmed by Johanna Demetrakas

Women’s Voices: reflections

50+ Countries
50+ Exhibitions Worldwide
900+ Artist Participants
10,000+ Student Participants
10 Publications
50+ Workshops / Panels / Presentations

Women Beyond Borders is a non-profit cross-cultural exhibition initiated by artist Lorraine Serena and a group of artist friends in 1991, with the goal to encourage dialogue, collaboration, and community among women, and to honor creativity worldwide. A small wooden box measuring 3 1/2″ x 2″ x 2 1/2″ was selected as a point of departure. Women were invited from all continents to transform the boxes. Boxes have been contributed by accomplished, nationally or internationally known artists, as well as by women with no prior artistic experience, anywhere from anywhere from Afghanistan to Zambia. Women Beyond Borders has grown from a grass roots local initiative to a savvy international art project involving over 10,000 artists, coordinators and curators from 50 countries. The project has been exhibited in over 50 venues around the world, including the National Museum of Kenya, the Wifredo Lam Center-Havana, and Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca. Women Beyond Borders is an ongoing project designed to transcend barriers. While the individual boxes are repositories for the personal, political, and economic realities of women internationally, the project itself challenges geographical, political, ethnic, religious, and aesthetic boundaries. In the 21st century, Women Beyond Borders has been adapted to new contexts and audiences, such as the international adjunct project Children Beyond Borders, a collaboration with VSA Arts, involving over 6,000 children with disabilities from around the world and 50 widows from the genocide in Rwanda. Most recently, Women Beyond Borders has supported the reintegration of survivors of human trafficking in Vietnam as part of a local workshop focusing on rebuilding their lives through art. Since its inception, Women Beyond Borders has acted as a catalyst for cultural exchange and change worldwide, thus taking a pivotal position at the intersection of contemporary art and today’s increasingly globalized, multicultural and digitally connected society. Women Beyond Borders invites all women to express themselves in all fields of endeavor.

Thank You



Special appreciation to Jon and Lillian Lovelace for their generous support of Women Beyond Borders from its inception. It is in their honor that we dedicate the Women Beyond Borders site.

To all those who made Women Beyond Borders possible, we are forever grateful. Appreciation goes to all the participants including: artists, curators, coordinators, sponsors and directors of institutions, who have spent countless hours organizing unique and compelling exhibitions around the world. This collaborative spirit is at the heart of Women Beyond Borders. Curators and Coordinators

Helping to launch the WBB journey were Nancy Doll, Director Weatherspoon Art Museum UNC and Marla Berns, Director, Fowler Museum UCLA. Marla Berns was especially influential in early stages of the project, click here to see a letter written by her to Lorraine in November of 1995.

Also deeply appreciated are the early participants:
Isabel Barbuzza, Ciel Bergman, Sky Bergman, Rose Bilot, Judy Dater, Beverly Decker, Mary Heebner, Evelyn Jacob, Anna Jud-Hallauer, M. Helsenrott Hochhauser, Alice Hutchins, Saritha Margon, Penny Paine, Elisse Pogofsky-Harris, Tamarind Rossetti-Johnson, Elena Siff, Joan Tanner, Maria Velasco, Victoria Vesna, Judy Weisbart, Seyburn Zorthian.

The Women Beyond Borders website and book would not have been possible without the work provided by the following:

Content Provider: Lorraine Serena
Logo Design: Stephania Serena
Book Design: Kim Kavish
Web Design: BitVision Technology Group – Alison Bradley, Declan Blasini
Photography & Video: Wayne McCall, Bill Dewey, Frank Serena, Saritha Margon, Karen Nedivi, and renowned filmmaker Johanna Demetrakas, known for her films entitled “Womenhouse” and “The Dinner Party”, among others.