On the occasion of our 35th anniversary, we took the opportunity that WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution was on display at the Vancouver Art Gallery to develop flesh mapping: vancouver markets pacific women.
Through the year of 2008, the collective met with artists and art historians. Then working with local women artists, rape victims, activists, battered women, prostituted women, teachers, political scientists and writers, we created a weekly group process that meshed consciousness raising, public art practice and local organizing.
For 7 months we met, discovered, discussed and investigated links between the international trafficking of women and the Vancouver demand for prostitution. We settled on bed sheets as an artistic unit, a canvas and a bed as our uniting display. The artists Haruko Okano, Bettina Matzkuhn and Susanne Rutchinski worked with us to facilitate the transfer of thoughts and ideas onto the 50 sheets.
During the 16 Days of Action (Nov 25 – Dec 10, 2008) the sheets were exhibited in Gallery Gachet in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. Simultaneously, the sheets were shown on video screens in the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG). The bed sheets became the visuals surrounding to the feminist conversation between activists from around the Pacific Rim. The video artist Krista Tupper filmed the conversation that was broadcasted live on a big screen in Gallery Gachet.
