Sunday, January 17, 2021

Unbound Visual Arts Exhibit & Program: Stronger Sisterhood!

UPDATE:
Check out the recorded panel discussions from UVA's "Stronger Sisterhood" Exhibit and related talks below:

Description posted by Unbound Visual Arts on YouTube:
"The Feb. 25, 2021 program for UVA's 'Stronger Sisterhood: Representing Intersectional Identity' exhibit running from Jan. 29 - March 31, 2021. This program included Curator Paige Moreau, artists Linda Clave, Maia Monteagudo, and Nilou Moochhala and UVA's Brenda Gael McSweeney."
Link to Panel Discussion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBb6FCShhnM

Description posted by Unbound Visual Arts on YouTube:
"'Voices of Resilience -- Our Stories Matter' (March 4th 6:00 - 7:00 pm). Unbound Visual Arts is presenting its annual Women's History Month program. This year's free program complements UVA's current exhibit: 'Stronger Sisterhood: Representing Intersectional Identity.' 'Voices of Resilience -- Our Stories Matter' is being presented by Janine Fondon, Bay Path U. Assist. Prof. with Dr. Demetria Shabazz & Dr. Lucie K. Lewis. The program includes Paige Moreau, UVA's curator for 'Stronger Sisterhood' and Dr. Brenda Gael McSweeney, a founding member of UVA, who introduced the panel and welcomed the audience. The presentation is about the intersecting lives of women in Massachusetts and beyond who have changed the course of history."
Link to Panel Discussion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAQFqUHlcbM

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"Stronger Sisterhood" now has 10 artists and is opening this month. Watch this space!

UPDATE:
Stronger Sisterhood: Representing Intersectional Identity is now live at: https://www.unboundvisualarts.org/stronger-sisterhood-representing-intersectional-identity/
Date: Online Exhibit: January 29 - March 31, 2021; Artists Panel: February 25, 2021 at 6pm
Location: Online Event (Register for Artists Panel Here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__jxkEi_cT7OfuZG7X1qysA)
 
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From Unbound Visual Arts' website:

Stronger Sisterhood: Representing Intersectional Identity
Curated by Paige Moreau
Opening January 2021

Artists: Linda Clave, Joanne Desmond, April Jakubec Duggal, Sara Gately, Brooke Jones, Maia Monteagudo, Nilou Moochhala, Diane Sheridan, Mary Vannucci, Andrea Zampitella

Nilou Moochhala, Singular Multiplexity, digital print, 24 x 18 inches, $200

Diane Sheridan, Three in the Subway, color digital photography, 11 x 14 inches, $200


Exhibit and publicity support from the Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program (WGS) at Boston University, and the Gender & International Development Initiatives of the Brandeis Women's Studies Research Center (GaIDI/WSRC)

Preliminary Curatorial Statement:

"As long as women are using class or race power to dominate other women, feminist sisterhood cannot be fully realized" ~ bell hooks

"Stronger Sisterhood: Representing Intersectional Identity," is a virtual exhibition in a virtual gallery that explores the multidimensional and intersectional identities of women.

The history of feminism has often been described in “waves”. The first wave is defined by the fight for women’s suffrage from the late 19th to early 20th century. The second wave, in the mid 20th century, focused on gender equality in the workplace, the home, and in civil liberties. Both of these movements, while making great strides for women, failed to address deeper compounded layers of oppression and marginalization faced by many women. First and second wave feminism were largely white middle class women’s movements and were often exclusionary of women of color, the LGBTQ+ community, working class women, women with disabilities and so on. The movements kept a narrow scope by focusing on a one dimensional vision of what it means to be a woman assuming common experiences and levels of marginalization based on gender identity. In reality, oppressions experienced by way of gender do not exist in a vacuum but instead intersect with multiple facets of identity. In 1989, lawyer, civil rights activist, and critical race theorist, KimberlĂ© Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” to describe how gender, race, class, and other individual characteristics intersect and augment oppressions. At present, the recognition of intersectionality’s importance in women’s rights has grown into a third wave of feminism that strives to recognize all the forms of oppression that female identifying people face.

Art created by a diverse range of female identifying artists is a key into visualizing and representing intersectional experiences. “Stronger Sisterhood: Representing Intersectional Identity” showcases that women’s experiences are not one but many, and only through diversity in representation can we begin to grasp a three dimensional view of all women. How do our experiences as women differ due to other facets of our identity? How are we made stronger by recognizing and honoring these differences? How has the recognition of intersectional feminism grown and where is there more work to be done?