WOMEN
BEYOND BORDERS: Brief Description
WORLD TOUR STATISTICS 1995-2008
| 50+ | Countries |
| 47 | Exhibitions Worldwide |
| 900+ | Artist Participants |
| 8,000+ | Student Participants/Adjunct Projects |
| 10 | Publications |
| 250 | Workshops/Panels/Presentations |
| 15 | Million Viewers (actual & virtual exhibitions) |
Women Beyond Borders is a 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 their 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 Afghanistan to Zambia.
In the past sixteen years, Women Beyond Borders has grown from a grass roots local initiative to a savvy international art project involving over 1000 artists, coordinators and curators from 50 nations and states. The project has been exhibited in over 47 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 ever new contexts and audiences, such as the international adjunct project Children Beyond Borders, a collaboration with VSA Arts, involving 6,000 children with disabilities from around the world.
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.
