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WOMEN
BEYOND BORDERS UPDATE: NOW AND BEYOND
| In
light of the world situation, we move forward with even greater
conviction that women's voices and visions are a healing force in
our world. The arts are a universal and essential language allowing
us to look beyond ourselves in order to create a new paradigm of
relatedness. |
--
Lorraine Serena
|
 WBB
has entered a new stage as it transformed from a grass roots initiative
begun in 1991 in Santa Barbara, California, into an unprecedented and
internationally recognized art movement. WBB currently involves over
1000 artists, coordinators, curators and sponsors from over 50 nations.
The 900 boxes contributed to WBB thus far have been exhibited in more
than 47 venues around the world.
In
recent years, WBB has engendered increasing scholarly appreciation and
acclaim from art critics and art historians at conferences, as well
as in articles and journal essays, recognizing the initiative’s
unique and extensive impact. Most recently, the President’s Committee
for the Arts and the Humanities has expressed interest in WBB and acknowledged
its merits.
However,
while WBB has entered into the art historical discourse, it is anything
but history. In the 21st century, WBB has been adapted to ever-new contexts
and expanding audiences. Highlights of the past six years include:
-
 2001:
WBB in Singapore: Curators Joyce Fan and Susie Wong invited local
artists to interrogate individual identity in relation to a specific
community. In elaborate boxes artists explored their experiences as
members of the many expatriate or minority sub-communities living
in Singapore.
- 2001-2002:
The ten-year retrospective, WOMEN beyond borders: The Art of Building
Community, was organized and shown by the UCLA Fowler Museum of
Cultural History and the University Art Museum, University of California,
Santa Barbara.
- 2002: The
adjunct project Children Beyond Borders was launched in collaboration
with VSA Arts, involving over 6,000 children with disabilities from
around the world. A selection of their boxes was exhibited at the Cultural
Olympiad in Salt Lake City, Utah.
- 2002: WBB
exhibitions at the Cultural Olympiad in Salt Lake City, Utah.
WBB was deemed one of the top five cultural events.
- 2002: WBB
exhibition at Ontario International Airport, Ontario, California. During
this yearlong display over 6 million travelers viewed the exhibit.
-
2003:
WBB exhibitions in Ramallah and in Nashville, Tennessee.
- 2004: WBB
exhibition in Ridgecrest, California.
- 2005: Publication
of WOMEN beyond borders: The Art of Building Community (Santa
Barbara, California: Women Beyond Borders, 2005), tracing the initiative’s
remarkable journey and impact on a local as well as global level.
- 2006: Out
of the Box: Collaborations with Tajima Creative, a Menlo Park, California,
company. Boxes were created by homeless women and girls at risk from
Seattle, as well as by prominent activists, politicians, managers and
celebrities teamed up with artists. Exhibitions were held in Palo Alto
and Seattle.
- 2006: Over
50 boxes created by Tutsi widows of the Rwanda genocide in collaboration
with Betsy Kain and Solace Ministries. The boxes and statements reflect
the atrocities and immense personal hardship these women experienced.
-
2007: WBB
exhibition of 200 boxes at the Missoula Art Museum in Missoula, Montana.
This was the most comprehensive exhibition in the USA since the 2001-02
WBB retrospective. A school outreach-project involved 1200 fifth graders.
With
these accomplishments in mind, we are currently re-evaluating WBB’s
future. Lorraine Serena, Founder and Artistic Director, who has guided
and nurtured WBB for over a decade, would like to find an institution
or agency that can carry on WBB’s goals and activities. Below are
some ideas for this new direction:
-
 Housing
and Exhibiting the Collection: Locating an institution that can
house, maintain, and exhibit the collection of boxes, or a selection
of them, that have been donated to WOMEN beyond borders since
1995.
-
Traveling
the Collection: Procuring an agency or institution that can continue
traveling groups of boxes to additional national and international
venues.
-
Housing
the Archive: Housing and maintaining a public archive of WOMEN
beyond borders, including correspondence, pamphlets, exhibition
brochures, announcements, memorabilia, photographs, and slides, as
well as catalogs and other materials about many of the participating
artists.
-
Educational
Programs: Conceiving and organizing a variety of educational programs,
such as workshops and lectures for schools, universities, museums,
libraries, as well as women’s and girls’ organizations.
WBB
has become a catalyst for cultural exchange and social change worldwide.
It has taken a pivotal position at the intersection of today’s
art and in an increasingly globalized, multicultural and digitally connected
world society.
We
would like to ensure the future of WBB and invite your input for a permanent
home, a traveling service, contacts or resources. If you wish to e-mail
a response, please reply to wbeyondborders@aol.com.
Anette
Kubitza
Art Historian/Curator, WBB Consultant
Photo
Captions from top
Women
Beyond Borders: The Art of Building Community - Ten Year Retrospective
University Art Museum, University of California
Santa Barbara - CALIFORNIA - 2002
Jennifer
Barton - House Cleaning
2002 Cultural Olympiad - Salt Lake City, UTAH - 2002
We
clean our house every day and throw the useless things away. But often
our minds for years get filled with foolish thoughts and fears.
Widow
of the Genocide with Box - Kigali, RWANDA - 2006
WBB
Missoula Art Museum - Missoula, MONTANA - 2007
Sharareh
Zandian - Limitation - IRAN - 2002
Each
restriction, each limitation is just like a coffin.
Don't
dance, don't see, don't speak, don't do anything and don't be what you
want to be. . .
Each restriction, each limitation which annihilates natural desires
and wishes is like a coffin overwhelming the spirit.
Although all through history and in many educational and governmental
systems these coffins have been made for men and women, women have always
been more victims of these restrictions and limitations or confined
to these coffins.
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