MA students will be screening work at the Ah, Motherland exhibition in the Bronx November 3rd. Come see the exhibition and stay for the screenings. Venture up to the Bronx and have a glass of wine with us!!
WW5: Ah, Motherland!
A Wonder Women project presented by _gaia and hosted by BronxArtSpace
October 23 – November 3, 2010
BronxArtSpace
305 E 140th St #1A
Bronx, NYC, 10454
For directions visit http://www.bronxartspace.com/
Opening Reception – Saturday, October 23, 6:00-9:00p.m.
Bronx Culture Trolley – Wednesday, November 3, 5:00-9:00p.m.
Video Screening and Closing Reception – Wednesday, November 3, 7:00-9:00p.m.
Gallery hours by appointment contact Mitsu Hadeishi at 718 772-4961
Artists: Christine da Cruz, Giana Gonzalez, Willa Goldthwaite, Anjelika Krishna, Lizette Louis, Roxana Marroquin, Holly Pitre, Sonali Sridhar, Agnieszka Wszolkowski
Curated by Doris Cacoilo and Renata Moreira
_gaia is pleased to present WW5: Ah, Motherland!, the culminating exhibition of the Wonder Women Residency Project. The residency invited artists and curators from the New York/New Jersey area to participate in a six week program that would engage them in discussions about their work, feminism, (im)migration, identity construction, human rights, and culture.
WW5: Ah, Motherland! created a collective dialogue and artwork that explored the dynamic issues of emigration and (im)migration into the United States. As the projects came into focus, it became clear that notions of home, family, culture, and heritage are as as fluid and rich as the work being created. The exhibition illustrates a collective journey to determine the participants’ knowledge of (im)migration, as well as to set a new standard of living with cultural relatedness and awareness.
Each project represents a personal struggle with (im)migration and it’s effect on identity. Anjelika Krishna drapes her heirloom saris to create new representations of self and identity that includes a merger of east and west. Sonali Sridhar explores technology, tradition and design in “Odhni,” a traditional Indian textile that harnesses solar energy. Other artists explore notions of body and memory. Holly Pitre uses essential elements of salt and water to illustrate change, erosion and a personal typography of identity. Roxana Marroquin’s “In my Skin” uses photography to merge her body with landscapes of memory. Giana Gonzalez and Christina da Cruz both approach a revisiting and reframing of their cultures with their work exploring Portuguese Fado and Panamanian Carnavale. In the exploration of Motherland many of the artists focused on mothers and the inheritance of culture and identity through family. Willa Goldwaithe reinvents the japanese noren inspired by her grandmother. Lizette Louis creates portraits of single immigrant mothers via wood burning and Agnieska Wszolkowski collaborates with her mother in “Gobelin” in order to explore her own Polish culture and traditions of craft and art making.
The video screening on Wednesday, November 3rd will feature works by Melissa Hacker, Alana Kakoyiannis, Iva Radivojevic and Chloe Smolarski.
WW5 coincides with the Feminist Art Project. The purpose of the Feminist Art Project is to bring public attention to the significant and continuing impact of women and their art on all aspects of contemporary art practice, highlighting their international influence, and guaranteeing their inclusion in the cultural record, past, present, and future.
_gaia is a collective of women artists and activists creating art, events and opportunities in the visual and media arts, performance and design. Its members actively promote the work of local women artists, encourage collaboration and support emerging artists in need of studio space and resources. In pursuit of raising awareness, _gaia concentrates on activism from issues in the local community and the art world to global issues affecting the lives of women.