All these artists, along with their many colleagues, share a distinguished consciousness of community to create the genesis of a human consciousness that borders with all their powers can no longer keep contained.

The WBB exhibition invites the viewer to imagine.

Linda Abrahams -Director, Women's Art Resource Center - Toronto. Canada

BUILDING COMMUNITY AS THE ART FORM

Lorraine Serena
Founder/Artistic Director

WBB extends beyond self-imposed divisions of class, politics, race, creed and geography. At the onset of the 21st Century, we are challenged to see beyond limiting categories toward a global reality which seeks the universal. WBB boxes inspire dialogue and honor and celebrate women's voices and visions. Dialogue is a path to understanding, interaction and trust. Encouraging artists out of isolation into relation has become the form. Six-hundred curators, artists, coordinators and sponsors currently represent thirty-six nations.

The box, reminiscent of a hope chest, is a powerful symbol-- a resonating, archetypal symbol of woman herself. Historically, the box represents vessel, treasure, shrine, womb, tomb, gift . . . These simple boxes have been transformed in a multitude of ways. Completed works range from dynamic conceptual pieces to whimsical and nostalgic boxes. Those from Mexico are colorful, some sinister; Japan, powerful and provocative; Argentina, sculptural and earthy; Paris, sophisticated and deliberate. Cuban images reflect perseverance and a longing for liberation. Some works are fraught with the terror of oppression and others brim with hope and humor. The images cross the spectrum of human experience: love, birth, relationship, power, hope, courage, violence, death, and the sacred, transmitting a variety of expressions and depth of vision which defy their size.

I gratefully acknowledge Suzi Gablik and Suzanne Lacy for their inspiration to make art as if the world matters. My work with them took me forever out of isolation as a singular artist into the world of collaboration . . . where I have found the greatest meaning of the word art as derived from the Latin ars, artis: to join together.

In the broadest sense, Women beyond borders is not only about the participants, it is about all women. Observe the universal pleas for healing, justice, respect, and liberation . . . the reverence for home, the world and one another. The artists share their deepest convictions. Those who have seen the myriad creations are forever connected to their eternal truths.