FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Amy Logan 510-451-6610 or Press@ArtWorksForChange.org

Global Art Show Inspires
New Perspective on Gender-Based Violence
“Off the Beaten Path” Comes to San Diego October 23

TIJUANA, MEXICO, January 8, 2010 — A new international exhibition of contemporary art brings together artists from around the world to explore the many dimensions of gender-based violence. In “Off the Beaten Path: Violence, Women, and Art,” set to open January 22 at the Tijuana Cultural Center in the EL CUBO museum, 32 well-respected artists from 26 countries create new stories through their artwork addressing gender-based violence from a global perspective..

“Throughout the world, women and girls are victims of countless and senseless acts of violence,” says Randy Jayne Rosenberg, executive director of the nonprofit group Art Works for Change and the show’s curator. “The range of gender-based violence is devastating, occurring, quite literally, from womb to tomb. It occurs in every segment of society, regardless of class, ethnicity, culture, or whether the country is at peace of war. Often, the victim’s only crime is that she is female.”
Premised on the visionary potential in art, the exhibition avoids tabloid and sensational imagery. The invited artists were asked “to help us create new representations through their artworks and, in doing so, help us feel and understand the essence of the problem of violence against women,” says Rosenberg.

The goal of the exhibition is to help create a new conversation on the full spectrum of issues that surround this important topic. Within the context of the exhibition, Art Works For Change explores various definitions of violence against women and girls as it relates to the themes of Violence and the Individual; Violence and the Family; Violence and the Community; Violence and Culture; and Violence and Politics. The hope is that the audience leaves the exhibition with a better understanding of the roots of abuse, a feeling of empathy, and an awareness of choice in their actions and beliefs.

These problems, though widespread, are often invisible, says Rosenberg. “When we encounter violence against women, we often overlook the facts and experience a sort of blindness. We choose not to see the devastation of domestic violence, calling it ‘a family affair’. Honor killings of women in faraway regions of the world become nothing more than a ‘cultural difference’. We find it hard to believe that sex trafficking and exploitation occur in our cities, close to home. The rape and torture of women during armed conflict is the inevitable ‘messiness of war’. As such, the political and systemic sources of violence are often underestimated or overlooked.”

To promote social change, Art Works For Change and its exhibitions serves as a catalyst within the community. Through its partnerships with museums, galleries, and advocacy and educational organizations, Art Works For Change provides a forum for which local education and outreach can take place within each host city the exhibition travels.

Organizational partners for “Off the Beaten Path” include Amnesty International; Art for Amnesty; Five Women who Care; Global Fund for Women; International Rescue Committee; the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM); and The Voices and Faces Project.

Participating artists include Agency: Volontaire; Marina Abramovic; Jane Alexander; Laylah Ali; Louise Bourgeois; Lise Bjorne Linnert; Maria Campos-Pons; Patricia Evans; Luciana Fina; Maimuna Feroze-Nana; Global Crescendo Project; Mona Hatoum; Icelandic Love Corp; Yoko Inoue; Kim Myung Jin; Jung Jungyeob; Amal Kenawy; Hung Liu; Almagul Menlibayeva; Gabriela Morawetz; Wangechi Mutu; Miri Nishri; Yoko Ono; Lucy Orta; Cecilia Paredes; Susan Plum; Cima Rahmankhah; Jaune Quick-to-See Smith; Joyce J. Scott; Masami Teraoka; Hank Willis Thomas; Miwa Yanagi.

“Off the Beaten Path” will run through April 4, 2010, before touring to other cities including Paris; Hanoi; Bogotá; São Paulo; Mexico City; Chicago; Ottawa; Toronto; Accra; Cape Town; Johannesburg; and more. It opened in Oslo, Norway, in June, 2009 and traveled to San Diego, California, United States, in October, 2009.

For more information, visit www.ArtWorksForChange.org.