SPACE

1 Jul - 19 Aug 2006

Mely Barragán, Silvia Galindo Betancourt, Tania Candiani, Itzel Mtz. Del Cañizo, Carmela Castrejón Diego, Gabriela Escárcega Langarica, Lula Lewis, Irma Sofia Poeter, Yvonne Venegas, Bulbo.

Curated by Maria Montserrat Sanchez and organised by Cornerhouse.

Situated at the Northwest Mexican border, Tijuana is the main passage between the Mexican state of Baja California and the USA. The city acts as a dam for thousands of migrants, criminals and illegal workers who hope to cross the border, and in doing so magnifies existing political tensions and cultural contradictions in the region. It is also a city that has redefined itself through cultural activity. Tijuana Organic reflects the dynamic cultural scene that has emerged from this tumultuous environment.

The artists in the show use a diverse range of media, including photography, painting, installation and new media to explore questions of female identity and the evolving role of women in Mexican society. Issues that confront women in their daily lives are dealt with through metaphor, narrative and the humorous use of everyday materials.

Tijuana Organic: Women's Border Realities deals with the tension of real and metaphorical barriers, and how they impact on the identity of individuals and groups. Full of contradiction, as well as possibility, these barriers can equally be the physical reality of a national border or the invisible restriction of expectation expressed by the conventions of society or the family. Tijuana Organic displays the perspectives of ten women which somehow exceed the apparent limitations of gender and reality to generate visual expressions revealing the innate human desire to survive, flourish and create. This exhibition suggests that life is too complex to be reduced to categories, whether they be feminist, immigrant, man, victim, or border, and so includes work that addresses the apparently everyday, common and trivial, making the universal a reflection of the infinite possibility of the human experience.