University Libraries Exhibits Interactive Art Installation by Janet Braun-Reinitz and Sarah Maple
The subjects of the cards vary widely. Most are political and address pressing contemporary national and international social justice issues (including racism, sexism, disasters, immigration, war, etc.), but others are humorous.
Braun-Reinitz and Maple bring their traveling exhibition outside of traditional art venues hoping that large and diverse audiences can publically participate in the sharing of ideas. They want each participant to have conversations with other viewers and participants (as well as Braun-Reinitz and Maple) in real time and across the length of the installation.
“The University Libraries’s Art and Exhibits Committee is committed to bringing art and artists to the USD community that challenge our perspectives and make us think deeply. Ladies Who Go There! promises to engage students, faculty, staff and community members in critical questions related to race, gender, immigration and other social justice issues,” Dan Daily, dean of libraries, said.
Braun-Reinitz is a muralist, painter, teacher and activist committed to social justice. Her ongoing commitment to social justice began in 1961 when she was a freedom rider, arrested and jailed in Little Rock, Arkansas. Since 1984, she has collaborated in painting more than 60 community murals – in many venues in New York City, including public schools, health care facilities, day care centers, community gardens, etc. – as well as elsewhere in the U.S. and internationally.
She is frequently an artist-in-residence, and in 2017, at Arte Studio Ginestrelle in Assisi, Italy, she worked with Maple on Ladies Who Go There!, funded by the Puffin Foundation and recently exhibited at the Nasty Women’s International Conference in the U.K.
Maple is an award-winning visual artist known for her bold, brave, mischievous and occasionally controversial artworks that challenges notions of identity, religion and the status quo. Much of Maple’s inspiration originates from being raised as a Muslim with parents of mixed religious and cultural backgrounds.
For more information, please contact Sarah A. Hanson-Pareek at Sarah.HansonPareek@usd.edu, Danielle De Jager-Loftus at Danielle.Loftus@usd.edu or Michael Boring at Michael.Boring@usd.edu.
The exhibition is located at the top of the stairs on the second floor of the library and open to the public during library operating hours.
