The Unexpected Textbook

 
“What does an Algebra book have to do with Women Beyond Borders?” Lorraine asked that question when she received a call from the Authors of “Discovering Advanced Algebra”. Images of Women Beyond Borders were sent and provided on page 84 of their 2002 publication with the following description:

Begun in 1992 by Lorraine Serena and Elena Siff, Women Beyond Borders is a worldwide art project in which women artists are given identical wooden boxes and asked to transform them. If you consider the original box to be the mean, some of the resulting artworks have large deviations.

In addition, on page 403 photos of boxes prepared by children of “Children Beyond Borders,” are shown. The boxes by “Children Beyond Borders” were exhibited at the 2002 Salt Lake City Cultural Olympiad along with Women Beyond Borders and presented with the following description:

These boxes, on display during the 2002 Cultural Olympiad in Salt Lake City, Utah, through the organization “Children Beyond Borders,” were created by children with disabilities in countries worldwide. The children decorated identical 4-inch square boxes with their own creative visions, often in scenes from their counties and themes of love and unity.