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BOXES beyond borders

Category: Colorful

Colors of My Life

Artist from Singapore

The colors on my box signify and represent my life. Blessed I am with the life I have. As much as it’s colorful and pretty, there are darker colors on there that represent the tough and difficult roads I had along the way. Losing friends that colored my life, using material that binds and reminded me of my late mom who was my strength. The curves and shapes on the box are the never-ending roads that will continue to add color to my life. I for one believe that every stroke has a story.

MY Life AND MY Lesson

Artist from Canada

This is La Benida Hui’s box, broken into pieces representing her “Life’s Lesson” by a hanging mobile. The Center is her art table and art tools, hanging from this space is the root of all things; Love.

On one end is the Ocean, made into a cross-like form; standing for the sacrifice of our home planet and our health at our own hands through climate change and pollution.

On the opposite end is The Green where nature items are bound together intertwined with Indigenous patterns. Symbols of whales and butterflies represent Life, Beauty and Rebirth.

Garden of Courage…

Where the
Seeds breakthrough
From breakdown.

Seasons are the reasons…

Nothing, nothing was an accident, everything was meant to
Happen.

Garden of Courage, seeds planted, tribes gathered, beautiful friendships blooming…

The “Formosa Tales” box project has allowed me to see the courage within, I am inspired by many with the sharing circles, and the boxes created… women of different backgrounds coming together having a much-needed conversation, the power of connection creates the possibility for transformation …It is my hope that with each box, every place we go, the seeds of courage would be planted, our collective vibration for the greater good, to be the courage; strength continues to blossom…

This little wooden box
What brings is unlimited possibilities…
In sharing and listening, the bravery of the exhibitors touched me… let me see the beauty of my bravery and vitality again. How to open the chat box in my heart, and what is worth cherishing… That is really an art. This garden bloomed in the third version. It is my expectation. What the treasure island chatterbox can plant on this beautiful island is full of hope, full of long-term prospects, abundant flowers and good fruits everywhere.

Lettuce Revolution

Tajima Box Project. An artist and an extraordinary woman collaborate to create a box.

Alice Waters, OWNER, CHEZ PANISSE RESTAURANT AND CAFÉ; FOUNDER OF THE CHEZ PANISSE FOUNDATION, THE EDIBLE SCHOOLYARD PROJECT and Dianna Cohen, ARTIST

“We need a revolution, a delicious revolution, that will induce children — in a pleasurable way to think critically about what they eat.” Alice Waters

Within the Edible Schoolyard project, Alice is teaching us all by demonstration, that we are what we eat. She creates a sense of community and our interconnectedness. These are values that I hold high and attempt to eschew and embody in my work in a more formal way as compositions made up of disparate parts joined together to form a whole.

The Dance of Life

Artist from India

The box represents the oceans and earth, embellished with the symbol Om; this is the sound of our breath or Pranava. Inside, gold dust is the precious earth we must cherish, upon which Natraj, the Lord of Dance, dances the dance of life. On the lid, is Hukam हुकम.

I seek the blessings of the Tibetan prayer flags, the vibrational frequency of Om, and the sheer liberation of Hukum (surrender) to continue this dance with intention and purpose. The Tibetan flags carry our prayers via the wind to get them answered. The flags represent the five elements. White flags symbolize clouds, red for fire, green for water, yellow for earth, and blue for the sky. The mantras spread positive energy wherever they are.

Om- The sacred syllable
Mani- Jewel
Padme- Lotus
Hum- Spirit of enlightenment

War Box

Since time began, mothers have nurtured, loved, taught, protected, cherished and raised their babies, then watched them grow to be killed in war or by war. This inevitable cycle will repeat itself for untold generations unless our mothers’ universal plea to Stop The Killing results in WAR NO MORE!

The Little Engine That Could

When I received the box I thought, “Why me? I’m not an artist”, but the box itself intrigued me.  I loved its fragrance, its smooth lines and the fact that it could hold my secrets or be open with the story I wanted to tell.  Almost immediately, the box became a train for me.

Growing up in Denmark I was very familiar with fairy tales, and I thought the train would become part of my own fairy tale. But as I worked on the train, it took on the intensity of the American children’s book, The Little Engine That Could.

I came to the United States when I was twenty-one years old with the dream in my heart that I could start my life over again. And I could. And I did. I am a wife to a wonderful husband, I have two beautiful grown children who love me. After years as a psychotherapist and consultant, I decided to become a toffee maker. It gives me great joy to create something sweet that brings joy to so many people.

After the train was finished I was on board as The Queen of Toffee, waving to the crowd. I was right back in my Danish fairy tale where I had started out, and I think I’ll stay there.
 

Global Vision

As a child, I lived in Europe for several years, enabling me to feel connected to other peoples, languages and customs. Always collecting objects from my travels at a young age, I was preparing to become the artist I am now – an assembler of a great variety of objects, textures and colors.

My goal from an early age was to “become a part of all I have met.” Living in California for most of my adult life it has been easy for me to experience aspects of many cultures, as so many people from all over the world live here.

My box is very much about a global view. I chose international postage stamps, with images of women, to cover the box. The “I/EYE scroll” contained within the box includes my quote from above and images of the human eye which approximate the shape of our planet.

I feel that Women beyond borders is first and foremost an expression of clear and profound communication between cultures – a communication that I know will enrich and inspire the lives of many of the women who are participating for many years to come.

I look forward to the new friendships that will be created as a result of our efforts.

 

A Moroccan Bath

I have always been fascinated with texture. On my travels I photograph details in architecture and local objects which I then bring back to the studio and recreate on canvas. The paintings I show in my exhibitions revolve around the theme of texture, color and architecture. When I received the box, I was challenged with the sculptural object which turned into a base that used tile in various shades and was inspired by them for this particular project. To add a little humor, I added the bather relaxing with her arms in the air taking in the moment.
 

Heroines

I am personally concerned with spiritual and creative identity through the abstract form. I find that creating many layers in my paintings builds a foundation or history of the statement I am trying to make. I want to obliterate as much traditional form as I can, yet still evoke images through layers of paint, glazed, and stains.

Painting, for me, can be a very lonely and difficult process. It is also exhilarating. In my personal experience I find that painting is the most powerful expression of my life and a most satisfying way to express my own humanity.

Break Water

Borders are changing lines on our world’s map that demarcate culture, land, time, history, ethnicity.  These are intellectual separations, but the older physical lines of division are also lines of connection- the oceans that separate us, join us.  Water is the vehicle for life- our food, our bodies, our planet.  Women share the experience of our body’s potential to transmit new life.  Our female bodies are both the source of our common oppression and transcendence. Break Water recalls the moment that proceeds birth.  The image is simultaneously bound and released, evoking change, possibility, destruction, hope.  I have included materials from previous works; a Xerox transfer image of a rope sculpture I made across a rotten East River pier in New York City, and two eggs which I collected in Brazil during a women’s collaborative show.  These are symbolic “births” of new ideas and images that women artists are collectively making to Break Water and change the marks that divide us.

Following Examples: An Exhibition

Because I am a curator and not an artist, I decided to organize a miniature show for Women Beyond Borders. The 10 featured artists were given a dimension of 1-1/4 x 2-3/4 inches and told to make something flat. The visual artists I invited are people whose work, lives and friendships have inspired and informed my life in a meaningful way.  This is an extremely personal project and I wish I could have included something by all the others whose creative lives have proven to be exceptional examples to follow.

Barbara Berk
Angie Bray
Karen Brown
Jacqueline Cooper
Eileen Cowin
Kim Cridler
Kathy Haddad
Danielle Imperiale
Sari Roden
Liza Ryan

Flor de Canela

My box is an expression of myself. Now others will know who I really am.
I did not have an original box, but built a bigger one with my husband. All objects and photos are symbolic.

Letting It All Hang Out

This box is sort of a self-portrait.  It is about me, anyway.  It represents some of the things inside of me that I like, get pleasure from, are positive and good, and that I am grateful for in my life.  It’s a celebration.

 

Pandora’s Box

With color I transform the construction into a different structure.  It is a practice which I apply in my work. The colors are those of springtime when the green has a radiance of the new-born. That’s why I could say that this box is the beginning of life, but it could be also the end. For me this is a profound meaning of Pandora’s box.

Love

My aim was to transform the cold sterile box, by covering it and filling it with love.

On the outside: What could be richer and warmer than a mothers love for her new baby?

On the inside: What could be lighter and brighter than the spiritual love awakened at time of birth?

Memory

This box is about memory. The interior, the little empty scarlet sarcophagus, symbolizes that which is memorized, which can never be recaptured exactly; the red on the outside is only an echo, and is overlaid, confused, obscured, and changed by later colors. I mourn the loss of that intimate vermilion promise.

I am a painter and a writer, and for the past four years I have been writing a large biography, of a couple whose lives overlapped with mine, though I never met them. I have spent these years sifting other people’s memories, both written and spoken, in pursuit of the exact, impossible hue of my subjects’ lives. This, too, is represented here.

I have only one chance. My box sails out across the waters of the world. Bon voyage, box. I’ll remember you.

Art Box

Tajima Box Project. An artist and an extraordinary woman collaborate to create a box.

Yvonne Banks, Owner of Art Consulting Services and Marie Hassett, artist.

Yvonne Banks is passionate about art! She has been instrumental in bridging the art world with the rest of our community for over 20 years as an art consultant and former gallery owner. Art Box is a tribute to her contributions. Her own vision and tireless energy strengthens her advice to young women, “You can do anything if you’re willing to work to get there.”

It was my pleasure to spend time with Yvonne sharing stories from our lives, finding commonality in our experiences as mothers, gardeners and lovers of art.

Tomiko Fraser Revealed

Tajima Box Project. An artist and an extraordinary woman collaborate to create a box.

TOMIKO FRASER, MAYBELLINE SPOKESPERSON/ACTRESS

Tomiko Fraser has benefitted greatly in her life from mentoring and, in return, wishes to nurture and empower other women. An exuberant, playful woman, she has been able to find her way and break free of the confines of others’ expectations.

In appreciation of Faith Ringgold and her painted story quilt “Sunflower Quilting Bee of Arles” (1991) and the women depicted within.

 

Threading Water

Tajima Box Project. An artist and an extraordinary woman collaborate to create a box.

JANET LEAHY, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF “BOSTON LEGAL” TELEVISION SHOW

1 small wooden box

5 Peruvian worry dolls

1 drill

800 holes

1 can black spray paint

countless threads

1 very small crochet hook

one artist

one executive television producer

one collaboration

one phone call

many many emails

one new friendship

Threading Water honors women, mothers, daughters, friends, workers, wives who feel pulled in all directions while trying to stay afloat.

 

Heartease

This box is about joy and renewal. Everything begins and ends, lives and dies in circles. There is such power in each little thought, small gestures and tiny boxes. The heart is a sure image of love, feeling and strength. It has infinite capacity for both great joy and great sorrow, even after the ache and grief of loss:

The core remains intact.

Pink budded, protected

with swathes of leaf,

and occasional thorn.

Energy of Thought, Word and Deed

Tajima Box Project. An artist and an extraordinary woman collaborate to create a box.

Rita Ryder, PRESIDENT OF STRATEGIC INITIATIVES, YWCA

Our sculpture represents the day-to-day work of the YWCA, providing hope and opportunity to women and families. Our ceramic hands represent our entire, diverse community joining together to help women and families overcome critical issues that undermine their lives: homelessness, poverty, domestic violence and unemployment.

Working together, we move women and families forward—breaking the cycle of poverty and hopelessness, and improving the quality of their lives.

What it Takes to Make Change: Sharifa Wilson and Transforming a City

Tajima Box Project. An artist and an extraordinary woman collaborate to create a box.

Sharifa Wilson, FORMER MAYOR OF EAST PALO ALTO; COLLEGE TRACK DIRECTOR and Daisy Juliana Eneix, ARTIST

When I first spoke with Sharifa, the former Mayor of East Palo Alto, I was struck by her absolute faith in her ability to make change. “I consider myself an optimist” citing her family as her primary inspiration. As Sharifa went on to discuss the strategies she has used to bring money, businesses, jobs and better education opportunities into East Palo Alto, it became clear that persistence was something she didn’t think twice about.

While considering what I could do for an artwork about Sharifa, I thought about what a formidable force she was. A picture came to mind of some unsuspecting guy delivering her the “Sorry lady, that’s the way it is” line and what she would do with that. This artwork is about the refusal to accept that answer and the possibilities it opens.

 

Keeping On Course

Tajima Box Project. An artist and an extraordinary woman collaborate to create a box.

Barbara Boxer, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA and Barbara Leventhal-Stern

The first words I associate with Senator Barbara Boxer are passion and courage. In my mind, I saw an image of a boat that “keeps on course”.

Because the exhibition serves to inspire young women who could be faced with adversity or hard decisions, I inserted excerpts from our email dialogue so they could read about the sources of her commitment themselves.

Thanks to Senator Boxer, and Michael and Adrienne, her talented staff.

Genevieve’s Traveling Transformation Box

Tajima Box Project. An artist and an extraordinary woman collaborate to create a box.

Genevieve Smith, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, WASHINGTON MUTUAL BANK and Barbara Earl Thomas, ARTIST

I shut the door on that house where I’d lived for 30 years. I never looked back. I can live anywhere.

Maybe it wasn’t exactly like that but that’s what I think I heard her say. From the Amazon to the city, one thing remains, Genevieve is constant, solid and clear putting on and taking off whatever the season calls for, but inside she remains the spring of her own life force, Genevieve.

Gen’s selected quote:

“The aim of life is self-development. To realize one’s nature perfectly – that is what each of us is here for.” – Oscar Wilde

Outside the Box

To know who I am is the quest.
To learn lessons is the school of life
To see emotion as the road least traveled.
To find the path past mind is the road to the soul.
To see life as a continuously unfolding process
To live life to the fullest is to live in the present.
To open to humaness is to see life’s treasures
To live in the present is going outside of the box.

From: If Life is a Game, these are the Rules
The Rules for Being Human
Dr. Chérie Carter-Scott

 

The Women’s World

Mother Earth

Deep within her there is life.
She is encircled by the web of life.
It is no mistake that earth is a “she”
for all that grows does so because of her.
We are the children of this mother.
We are all connected to the earth and one another
through this mystical experience we call life.

A Cricket

I used to think, in my childhood, if the wonder and beauty of flowers I see is the same as the one my playmate sees. Though I regard their color as ‘yellow’ and so does she, can our ‘yellow’ be the same?

When you see an object, you see not only it itself, but also some experience and memory which you picture to yourself by seeing it. If the brightness you see is different from one I see, and if so, are the views, the climate and the smells you have seen and sensed also different? This work of mine you’re looking at may be different from the way I see it.

But such a difference can make our lives more complicated and richer and reveal who we are.

Shoes

“Walk a mile in my shoes”
and vice versa.
To understand someone else,
put yourself in their shoes.
Too often, women force their
feet into shoes
too small, too pointy, too high-heeled
and then stumble along
the unmarked roads ahead.
Life is a journey,
be prepared to wear
sensible shoes.

Pandora’s Box

Where do my thoughts and language come from?

Do they arise out of a chaotic flux of sensations and mental images? Are there some rules or a deep structure underlying this apparent chaos? Is the Right Brain, more intuitive part,  more closely related to the unconscious (if there is such a thing) than the Left, logical, verbal part of the brain? My painting suggests these questions to me. I wonder how the part of me that knows is related to the part of me that doesn’t know what it knows.

In making this box for Women Beyond Borders I am reminded of that wonderfully curious woman, Pandora, who for centuries has been, to my way of thinking, erroneously blamed for all evils on earth. I discovered there’s another version of the story, and it goes like this:

The box which she opened contained everything that was good, and when, (against her husband’s advice) she raised the lid, ALL THAT WAS GOOD escaped out into the world. I like this story and think it’s a fine metaphor for the creative, open-minded nature of womankind.

Surely Goodness…

This box has many references. One is biblical. “My cup runneth over” directly precedes my title from the 23rd Psalm, a thought that came to mind as I made it. It is also something like Pandora’s Box.

The surely goodness part is the outcome of both references that I mean and want for women. It is who we are and how we create and effect culture. This box stands over and beyond patriarchy.

It is also part of an ongoing project of mine to recycle into art all the many art materials I have been carrying with me for nearly 35 years with the fantasy: Someday I will make some crayon drawings again, or use this glitter in a piece! Now I am doing it as pure art materials, recycling as all things do back into life.

Lost Butterflies

Where have all the mothers gone?
Off like butterflies in the wind.
All to great deeds of glory
Then on to new beginnings again.
The chrysalis of life is a never ending bond
Until the end of time.
Where have all the mothers gone?
Lost the most precious gift, a child of mine.

 

Outside In

Tajima Box Project. An artist and an extraordinary woman collaborate to create a box.

KATE MCISAAC ,1ST LIEUTENANT, U.S. ARMY and Laura Klein, ARTIST

Kate McIsaac just celebrated her 30th birthday in Baqubah, Iraq. She is a 1st Lieutenant in the Army, serving in OIF IV – V at FOB Warhorse as a postal officer. Her unit is from Long Beach, California.

She is also a first-year law student at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa and will either go into criminal law or First Amendment Libel law. Libel law is near and dear to her heart.

Kate also has a degree in Journalism and worked as a journalist for several years.

 

Skin Deep

Spilling out of a Pandora’s box, previously concealed truths reveal themselves. A hand, a living experience and the intuition it contains, is full of signification. This can be translated in a multiplicity of paradoxical ways.

Beauty is a socioeconomic and political construction. How we depict women in art opens up a dialogue and an opportunity to affect our inter-relationships. We are not alone in deriving pleasure from the spectacle.  Manet’s Olympia, and the official ideology she implies, returns our gaze.

 

Al Cuore del Cuor

My connection and admiration for my fellow women grow ever stronger as I grow older. This was to have been the theme of my box.

My father died in my arms a short while ago, calling “Mama.” How varied, how interchangeable, how understanding of the incomprehensible we must be. How I strive to trust my instinct that taps deep, deep, deep into the strength, the capacity, the tenacity of a woman.

My box is for my father, whom I miss with all my hearts. He was a painter, he taught me to see.

Welcome to the Forest of Dreams

I have built a place of healing and repose.
Though small enough to fit in your hand,
it is a place to soothe and comfort the weary sojourner.
May you enter and find your peace.

Enter the forest, its cool green breath,
its embracing boughs, its mystery.
Enter the shadows your spirit longs for,
follow the labyrinth.
Enter the heart of the ancient forest,
wander until the dusk surrounds you.
until you find you have come to a place of rest.
Dream until you have found contentment.
Dream until you have found your own way
home, into the light.

Souvenir From Hawaii

I have covered the surface of this box with pieces of plastic found on a beach in Hawaii in 1993.

On one hand, I saw all this plastic as evidence of the persistence of this detritus of capitalism’s endless appetite for more THINGS; on the other, I was struck by the weathering of these ambiguous fragments as they begin to resemble organic flotsam and jetsam.

The categorizing of things washed up like this becomes more difficult and the beach becomes a shifting archeological site of displaced artifacts (or garbage) driven by the tides. Presumably, eventually these things break down into a kind of synthetic sand.

Untitled #1

Top: the 3 jewels (the Buddha, the Dharma (teachings) and the Sangha (spiritual community)

Color: yellow for the Lama’s robes

Images: lotus flower, 3 jewels with Bon swastika (Bon was the religion of Tibet before Buddhism), fish, vase with flowers

Inside the Box: barley

Untitled

Irony rescues the idea from remaining in an abstract area so it can transform itself into fact, mobility, into continuous experience.  This is the basic idea behind my work.

Taking apart the governmental apparatus in which the situation of the woman is always in the background; the critical observation of the external is accompanied by the capacity of my own recognition.  Then the work surges from a free montage of connections of images and thoughts.

A Piece of My Heart

mary daley’s gyn/cology and wickedary

germaine greer’s the obstacle race

zora neale hurston’s their eyes were watching god

ruth klüger’s weiter leben: eine jugend

toni morrison’s playing in the dark

grace paley’s 3 short stories

adrianne rich’s of woman born

alice walker’s in search of our mother’s gardens

Untitled

Blue skies, sun rises, sun sets.

Very quickly, you leave us

Like a bow leaving it’s arrow.

We stay.  It’s good to stay.

Our future is good.

Top: flower

Images: Knot of eternity, eight-petaled flower, Bon swastika, 3 jewels (the Buddha, the Dharma (teachings) and the Sangha (spiritual community), sun, moon, flowers

Inside the Box: Kata (white scarf used as offering to Lamas or enlightened people)

Text: World Peace

Blue sky, sun rises, sun sets.

Very quickly, you leave us

Like a bow leaving it’s arrow.

We stay.  It’s good to stay.

Our future is good.

Garden of Life

Friends are the flowers in the garden of life. My flower gardens bring much pleasure to myself as well as many others. Through gardening and art, I have made many friends who enrich my life. Friends in far-reaching places oftentimes come to mind. I like to think of them as flowers given to me in my garden of life. True blessings.

It is my hope that my box will convey to others how important friends are. May my little traveling garden bring a smile to the viewer, along with a reminder of someone special—a flower placed in their garden of life.

Hearth

Diverse meanings are attached to the shape of a box. This particular box represents the amalgam of two ideas. The first is the idea that all our judgments and ill-imagined, preconceived notions might go up in flames so that we might remember to view each other with fresh, clear perspective.

The other idea is that each of us would throw our boxes of hope and treasure onto the pyre for warmth of body and food on a cold night. This flame of necessity, real for some, but taken for granted by others, might illumine a way of looking at life – that we might value the bare essentials of life more than we do – and care for those who don’t have them.

The green flame represents the possibility for growth and a new way of life that would rise from the kindling of excess with unsurpassed brilliance.

 

96 and 4 Extra

The negative space inside the box is able to contain 96 cubic centimeters of particles. If more particles are added, the pressure inside the box will increase. When the box is opened, the pressure will push the extra particles out. A similar reaction will happen to a human being who experiences physical and mental pressures. When the society, culture and family exert pressure on a woman, she faces physical and mental exhaustion, thus making her unhappy. But if she is able to release the stress, the force can be transformed into useful energy–just like the box, she can live a colorful and creative life.

Worship

I see the work as a process linked to the practices of a community. The reflection of self and interaction with community run parallel to the notion of time and rituals. The work explores the idea of a mystical journey of life and hope. Imbued with energy, the yellow box is evolved around acts of cleansing, purifying and healing. The choice of materials used in this work reflects this concept.

Ask for Guidance

When I started this project, I had a general idea of what I wanted to say and how I would do it. However, once I started beading it began to take on a life of its own. For one thing, the beading took much longer than anticipated, which forced me to slow down and enjoy the process.

Beading is a mechanical type of thing which allows contemplation while still doing the work. It began to look a bit different than I planned and time was getting short so while I beaded, I literally asked for guidance and trusted that this would lead me somewhere. Is it a pillow, a blanket, a symbol?…it is any and all of these things and a place to rest and to think. The idea to glue messages to the box came as I beaded. Lesson learned.

“All you need to do to receive guidance is to ask for it and then listen.” Sanaya Roman

“Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose.” Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

 

Mom, Me, and the Pink Dancers

This work has to do with the cycle of life and where I am in that cycle now. It is a combination of fears–past and present, traumatic experiences—past and present, hopes, dreams, pain and frustration that continue, that I am more or less resigned to endure. It is to honor my mother and her teaching and love for me, my love for her and what each generation of women pass to one another.

The pink dancers were an image I formed from an interview I heard on public radio with young women activists who dress in pink and perform on the sidewalk of urban centers to attract people to engage them in discussions pertaining to social and political issues of the progressive left. I yearned and regretted for a moment that I was not there, was not a pink dancer. But soon saw that they were the next phase, and was glad just that they were there. Yes! to them.

War is still bad, starving children are still bad, and women still have to keep working to stop these things from happening. There is a lot of pain we must carry with us.

My own children (17yrs old & 21yrs old) saw this piece being made. The red stuffing, I told my questioning son, represented blood and tissue. However, it was not bad. Blood is everywhere when you are born. It is a good thing. Blood is life.

Such a small piece, so much to say. Very personal.

Untitled

Green, yellow and blue are the colors of our flag. Rwanda, a nation recovering from the blood shed of man. The red doom is the symbol of Genocide and the white cross with the bleeding heart of Jesus, who sacrificed that Rwanda be made clean, symbolized by the white cross.

Yellow is sunshine, hope for Rwanda. Green is life and growth and blue is reconciliation, possible only though the blood of Jesus.

Make Up

The title, Make Up, is chosen as it refers not only to the cosmetics we women apply on our faces, but also to other connotations–to fabricate, to supplement, to collect, to put together, to parcel, to put into shape, and to arrange–all of which formed part of the process in its making. Make Up looks at the notion of wholeness with reference to the obsession in women to be or to be seen as psychologically and physically sufficient. The mirror on the top of the box reflects the viewer’s face, thus engaging/making him/her as a subject. Hence, the artwork questions a woman’s need and her behavior in wanting to “fit in” through the act of supplementing her appearance with cosmetics. Is the woman’s quest to Make Up her complete self destined to fail?

 

Family Bed

I’m three years old. I made a five-decker bed because I want my family to be together. My papa works in Jakarta four days a week and I miss him. I also love double-decker beds but papa said it is too dangerous for children my age. A five-decker bed will be nice–everybody can sleep together and Babybathtub (my doll) can have her own bed. I wanted to have a five-decker bed and mama helped me saw the box. Papa is very old, his bed has many beads–my hands get tired and Nadene che che helped me with the sticking. My bed has three beads because I am three years old and Babybathtub is only two.

Pat Chen, Regina Law’s mother

A Chinese Bridal Chest

In ancient China the mother of the bride had to give her daughter two chests of clothes on her wedding day to accompany the bride when she went to the bride-groom’s home.  The two words ‘Double Happiness’ had to be pasted on the two chests.  These beautiful decorated rectangular chests would be carried manually behind the bridal sedan chair followed by a group of musicians.  These chests would be supported by long poles placed on the shoulders of the two male carriers.  On arrival at the bride-groom’s home the mother-in-law and other relatives would inspect the contents of the two chests.  Then the bride’s family background would be assessed or usually criticized because of the poor quality of the clothes in the chests.  How the mother-in-law would treat her daughter in future would depend to a great extent on so called ‘dowry’ of the bride.

Endless Beauty

My work deals with the femininity of a woman, as she struggles not only to be part of society’s work force, but also to maintain her appearance as changes are brought about through aging.  Instead of the small wooden box, I have cast a larger box from wax, not only to enhance its appearance but also to give that sense of being alive.  The box itself is wrapped up with skin and it is this same skin that are stacked inside the box in repetitive folds.  The wrapped box together with the folded repetitive skin represents the struggles of a modern woman in the community, to which she has, to balance between society and the family, and yet maintain her >endless beauty for society.

The Model and the Box

I pay homage to the naked form. In this piece the artist is absent, but her palette remains. The model is not naked but nude. To be naked is to be deprived of clothes, to be nude carries no uncomfortable overtones. She has no vulnerability. She has energy and vitality. She offers this artist stimulation and creative thought.

 

I thank the model, the nude…and the box.

My Grandmother

Coca-Cola Box Project.

As long as I can remember my grandmother in Mexico always bought seven bottles of Coca-Cola a week. She has one bottle a day: a few ounces in the morning mixed with two raw eggs; a few ounces with lunch; and the rest with her dinner. She never drinks water at all, just the Coke. She is ninety-two years old.

 

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Survivors of Genocide.

I have drawn a volcano in eruption and fruits on a tray. I have also drawn a person in a boat. An active volcano is very destructive. Fruits are nutritious. If you take a ride in a boat you take a rest and feel happy when you look at the water.

My World

My box is a small square world, and part of my world is in the box. On opening My World and looking closer one sees part of my individual history. A mirrored reflection of my wedding day. It represents love, culture, and intimacy. The bottom of the box is a coffin.

 

Personal Affairs

The little book attached, describes the origin of the fabric (where it was woven and printed), its purpose (as far as it could be tracked down) and most important the donor. The donors are all women who I have got to know in Singapore (except my mother who has visited me in Singapore for 4 months). The box might be seen as synonym for the female body (or at least part of it), all those pieces of different fabric stand for the colorful, multi-layered women personalities.  The chain at which the little book is attached has a meaning too: It stands for all women who have not freed themselves from a world which is still very much male-dominated.

Fannie’s Soap Box: The Story of an American Cheerleader

Tajima Box Project. An artist and an extraordinary woman collaborate to create a box. 

Fannie Flagg, ACTRESS, COMEDIAN, AND AUTHOR with Ramona Otto, ARTIST.

When I was told that I would be doing a piece on Fannie Flagg, I was honored. We are from the same generation, and I’ve always enjoyed her TV and film work, and was impressed that she was also a brilliant author and screenwriter. Because word play is often a part of my work, my original thought was to make the box into a soapbox, and then I could make the theme into whatever message was important to Fannie.

Fannie’s wish was to have a positive art piece because she was tired of all the negative art and energy being released into the world. She hoped her piece could reflect that life was good.

I hope my title gives a whole new meaning to the word “cheerleader.”

 

 

Shades of Africa

Everywhere you go In Africa a woman is always present. Through my presentation I portray three major roles that make African women so precious in our society.

A woman does not only bear a child in her arms, wood on her head or a clay pot in her hands, she bears the daily burden of African experiences.

She is the strength of Africa and I hope that we can learn to appreciate what a woman does and the one who created her, God.

Another Play-Thing

A child or an adult who handles this magnetized material discovers through a variety of experience what it is saying.

For those who like surprises, I suggest collaboration with this animated material when attempting a re-arrangement – even “letting go” and allowing the magnetic forces of attraction and repulsion direct the play.

A haphazard appearance is one of the factors which may provoke a viewer, out of attraction, annoyance or curiosity, to touch this material and discover that its arrangement is temporary.

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Top: the 3 jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma (teaching) and the Sangha (spiritual community)

Colors: monastery

Images: goldfish, land, mountains, river, clouds; an island surrounded by water; fruit

Inside the box: barley, primary ingredient of Tsampa, a basic Tibetan food

Made By Woman

Although it is very difficult for me to think in the terms of ‘feminist’ art (or any kind of separation between the men- women activities), I can’t avoid the context of the Women Beyond Borders project. So I created the double box out of the single one. What inspired me was the fact found in the catalogue that the original wooden boxes had been constructed by a man (called Jack). Inside this wooden box I have put the soft textile box sewn by myself.

The work corresponds with the pattern of sharing the work: men build houses while women make home of them. Such a box is still staying empty, waiting for a real (probably common) issue. Besides this, I simply enjoy sewing.

REFERENCES:

Joseph Beuys: felt textile

United Colors of Benetton: bright colors, social dimension of dressing

‘Titanic,’ the movie: Jack & Rose relationship

My past works: ‘Portable Home’ project

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Before 1994, our country was good. After April ’94, blood was shed. Many people died and the majority of genocide survivors are struggling with life.

So, the telephone you see is calling for help. We believe that God is the first to come.
Inside the box, there is my heart. I will never forget my relatives, my friends, children’s blood…

The blue color means that I hope to live happily. Jesus will take me with him.

Hidden Beauty

Real beauty is hidden and then found like a box of treasures. These textiles represent women from different regions of my country. A heritage that should be preserved for our children.

The words on the box are prayers: to make good choices; be a better person – humble, patient and thankful.

My Culture My Pride

The Maasai are a pastoral people who live in Kenya and Tanzania in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa. The Maasai believe all the cattle on earth were given to them by God. The Maasai way of life is spent in moving from one place to another in search of grass and water for their herds.

Today, the unique customs and traditions of the Maasai still exist and are treasured by them. Great effort must be made by all to see that this treasured culture is preserved for the future.

By revealing this beauty of the Maasai people, I hope my contribution in some way helps in the preservation of this priceless culture.

The small portrait is of a Maasai woman painted on a fragment of a special and very useful “Oleleishwa” tree. The tree is used by the Maasai to clean calabashes for milk, as perfume, for making clubs and thatching beds.

Mimo

Now, we humankind encounter a life crisis that we have never met before. This crisis may have been brought upon by the competition for “superiority” and “profit” for such things which each person belongs to, as the nation, peoples and sex…etc. I wonder how we can surmount this serious condition? Can we evade the collapse and find out the light of hope in the twenty-first century?

A primitive man held awe and respect to the universe and nature. We should bring them to life intensely and lower our head and pray sincerely to them. The ancients prayed for the approach to the sacred thing through praying. We should also learn a lesson from their wisdom.

Now each of us must be in immediate need of breaking our little shell of ego and appearing as our universal or spiritual soul which sleeps undeveloped in deep layers.

Painting, building, singing and dancing…these acts are also a prayer itself, I believe.

The Facade of Glamour

The glamour we see in women is not always representative of her inner self. It is just a facade. This box has all that goes with glamour on its outside, but on the inside it has all the turmoil and agony resulting from her daily chores.

From a Picture Frame On My Mantelpiece

As a 32-year old female Indian Diasporic artist, my preoccupations are complex. Feelings of confidence and vulnerability exist at the same time. My formal research, for the longest time, has been a documentation of my interactions with people and experiences by using photography. These photographs form part of a tale. The front, from top to bottom, depicts a meandering path of images of women, starting from infancy to old age. The back of the frame shows my life, whilst growing up in a politically charged environment, that all pervasive racism between the whites and the blacks and the Indians, and my moving to England at the age of fourteen, conflicting lifestyles, hidden desires, and a magnetic pull towards my (so-called?) homeland, India. Almost all my work reflects my relationship with India. In that murky sea of conflicting humanity, a different code is at work; therefore I am not in control, and have much to learn, and to re-learn. This preoccupation is less a romance, and more a sort of obsessive compulsion.

I.T. Image Trap

I.T. Image Trap is derived from visual images of women. Women tend to be regarded more as ‘ornaments’ than the opposite gender and this resulted in a human condition where attention is focused on physical attributes than on what lies beneath. I.T. Image Trap has an ornamental quality and it possesses as the ability to deter from being simply regarded as ‘surface beauty’ which could be replaced or be out of fashion. It aspires to be considered as a work with endless possibilities, meanings and pleasant surprises. Just like any sensible woman who wants to be looked upon, I.T. Image Trap teases one to unmask the trapped image within.

House Cleaning

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.

The Women's Voices: Jennifer Barton from WOMEN BEYOND BORDERS on Vimeo.