we gather to share what’s mine

with you, the food becomes ours,

nourishment for our hearts,

we connect and we belong 

"People migrate carrying with them remembrances of joy and burdens of life. Departing their homelands forcefully with grief and resistance or willingly with dreams and hopes for freedom, safety and bread. The new land belonged to someone else — it was stolen, and generations of cultures were erased due to genocide. With gratitude and compassion to the original inhabitants, we now call this land home.  We seek to acknowledge the colonial injustices, and racial exploitations as we explore uncharted territories. We embrace, adopt, adapt, and adjust to cultural climatic shifts, barriers, and expectations. Many communities choose to acculturate by preserving their ancestral heritage, native language, familial values and traditions, while many others take refuge in cultural denouncement and assimilate. Our cultural roots connect us with our histories which could be comforting or horrid, glorified or marginalized, celebrated or stereotyped. Our cultural experiences are bound with our communities and our home, preserved in our memories, and passed down as seeds for generations to reap. our kitchens tell our unique story. The way we eat, the ingredients we buy, the utensils we use, the foods we cook and serve, the familiarity of tastes are influenced by our ancestral cultural roots and amalgamated identities. Food is an expression of our cultural experiences and emotions. It brings people together during joyful celebrations or sorrowful moaning moments.   

Food binds us socially to build community and foster a sense of belonging. It is a catalyst for creating cross-cultural awareness, understanding, appreciation, and respect. Food is the first level of digesting another culture. The juried call mine, your, ours, invites artists, designers, and performers based in the United States to submit their distinctive ways in treasuring their traditional food recipes while exploring adaptive methods of cooking. What are their kitchen stories and familial traditions? How are their ancestral or indigenous foods cooked and shared with others? What are the challenges or marginalizations encountered by them for sustaining their familial food traditions for future generations to embrace? How is food consumed for sustenance during joy or conflict or despair at home or in their communities? How do they bring diverse communities of people together, establish belonging, and promote hope through food?" 

Exhibition Description:  WMG is inviting women and non-binary artists living in the United States whose work addresses the theme of "mine, yours, ours" to submit images of up to three works created in any medium that have not been previously exhibited at WMG. Please address the theme of this exhibition in your work and in your artist statement. The exhibition will be held at Woman Made Gallery.

About the Jurors: Archana Shekara is an Indian American artist, designer, professor of graphic design, co-director of Ethnic Studies, and creative director of Design Streak Studio, a research based social innovation lab focusing on human-centered service design at Illinois State University. She uses design as a tool to build cross-cultural understanding, acceptance, and respect. 

As a socio-cultural researcher, she investigates her transnational identity by understanding racial equity and decoloniality through a brown cultural lens and creates critical awareness using ethnographic narratives. Her medium for creative expression takes on various forms such as type design, curating immersive participatory experiences, interactive installations using mixed and various emerging digital media which evoke multi-sensory responses. Shekara’s design research interests, and scholarship in pedagogy includes cultural identity, design for belonging, social justice, and community engagement. Her innovative teaching methodologies and research have been featured in peer-reviewed national and international academic and professional publications, and conferences including Association Typographique Internationale (AtypI), Typography Day, Digitally Engaged Learning (DEL), MODE Summit, Electronic Visualization and the Arts (EVA) London, Society of Experiential Design (SEGD), AIGA Design Educators Conference (DEC), College Art Association (CAA), Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), 5th Virtual Design Education Forum, and UCDA Design Educators Summit. 

Shekara was featured in American Institiute of Graphic Arts (AIGA)’s One Designer, One Work, and by 1000 Spotlights by Speakerpost, a social impact global platform which connects educators with industry experts. She is the founder and chair of South Asian Design Educators Alliance (SADEA) which aims to promote, advance and share South Asian design histories, pedagogies, and perspectives globally. Shekara received an MFA in Graphic Design from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a BFA in Painting from the State University of New York in New Paltz. 

Calendar 

Exhibition Dates: January 20 – February 17, 2024 

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 20 from 4 to 7 PM CST 

Artist Walkthrough: Saturday, February 17 from 2 to 4 PM CST 

First Entry Due Date: November 11, 2023, 11:59 PM CST 

Extended Due Date (fee increase to $35): November 18, 2023, 11:59 PM CST 

Notification: November 30, 2023
 

Entry Fee
Entry Fee *The entry fee is $30 until the first deadline. The entry fee will then increase to $35 per entry. Each entry requires a minimum of one artwork, though up to three artworks may be considered per submission. Entry fees are non-refundable.
Members at the Enhanced Artist Level ($100) and above receive one free entry annually. Please email general@womanmade.org to receive your one-time code for free entry redemption.

WMG offers up to 30 fee waivers per exhibition. To acknowledge the historic inequities of wealth distribution, they are mainly reserved for ALAANA/BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+. If you require a fee waiver simply email us explaining your need and we will assist you. Please email WMG at general@womanmade.org to request a fee-waiver.

Eligibility
Woman Made Gallery is a space for women and nonbinary artists, including trans women and femme/feminine-identifying genderqueer artists. We welcome art from women and non-binary artists from our local community, regionally based, and around the world.
Due to wall size restrictions, artworks must be no larger than 6’ horizontally and under 75 pounds in weight, unless delivered to and picked up from our 4th floor gallery by the artist. Artists may be additionally responsible for the installation of oversized works.
New media artworks are eligible. To be considered, artists must submit a sample .mp4 or URL under 10 mins for purposes of consideration. For exhibition, WMG requires a digital transfer (Google Drive, Vimeo downloads, WeTransfer) as well as a USB formatted in .mp4 file format delivered to the gallery. WMG can provide a limited number of screens and projectors with basic speakers. All other new media needs are the responsibility of the artist.

Art Sales
Accepted work may be listed for sale or be not for sale (NFS). WMG will retain a 40% commission on sold works. Work remains the property of the artist until sold. Sold artworks shall remain in the exhibition until the end of the exhibition. Artists will be paid no later than 30 days after the close of the exhibit. Artists may donate any portion of their commission to WMG.

Terms of Exhibition
An artist contract with full terms of the exhibition will be administered at the time of acceptance notification.

Artists need to retrieve their work by the date noted in the artist contract or make alternate arrangements. WMG is unable to store work beyond the pick-up date. Artists may donate their art to WMG's fundraising efforts if unable to pick it up. WMG is happy to talk through preparations, offer advice, and recommend resources as requested.