Call for Submissions: SAWCC’s Annual Visual Art Show

Ornate Activate
Curated by Alexander Campos
Submission deadline: April 24, 2015

The South Asian Women’s Creative Collective (SAWCC) is pleased to announce a call for submissions for our annual visual arts exhibition, Ornate Activate, to be held at Shirin Gallery in Chelsea, NYC, opening June 11th, 2015.

Ornate Activate examines the use of decorative motifs, architectural elements, cursive scripts and other forms of pattern making by artists to create and imply content. The exhibition will also examine the employment of culturally specific motifs as social and/or political commentary, as well as cultural indicators of historical referencing. The goal of the exhibition is to bring together a body of work that demonstrates a current interest by contemporary artists to merge and reclaim decorative and craft elements as meaningful and critical content signifiers. Submitted artworks that engage the above can be in any media, including painting, work-on-paper, sculpture, installation, photography, video, performance, Internet-based art, and audio works.

Alexander Campos, Executive Director & Curator of the Center for Book Arts, has over 25 years of museum experience with positions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New Museum of Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Bronx Museum of the Arts, and the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning. Campos has served as Executive Director of the Center for Book Arts since 2004, organizing many major exhibitions. including Interweaving Textu(r)al Meaning, The (Un)Framed Photograph, I’ll Cut Thr(U), and upcoming July exhibition /mit ðə detÉ™/: Source Materials Visualized He has an MA from New York University in Arts Administration and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania in Art History and Romance Languages.

Submission Requirements:

Please send submissions by email to: vashow@sawcc.org with the subject line: “SAWCC 2015: [Your Full Name]”

ALL submissions must include the following as attachments:
– 6-10 JPEGS of artworks available for the exhibition: 820 pixels wide or high, 100 dpi, titled as number underscore last name (ex. 1_Chaudhury)
– Media artworks can be submitted via direct weblinks to preview works online
– Resume/CV as PDF or Word document
– Artist statement pertaining to above curatorial proposal as PDF or Word document
– Object statement pertaining to each artwork submitted for consideration

In the body of your email, please include:
– Name,
– Address
– Email
– Telephone number
– Website (if applicable)
– Corresponding image/media script including title, media, dimensions, and date
-For media artworks please provide the running time

Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and identify as South Asian women. Please note that the gallery and SAWCC cannot provide art shipping or insurance for artworks-in-transit. Detailed instructions on the installation schedule for accepted works will be communicated to the artists after the juried process. Artists will be notified of acceptance in early May. Please email any questions to vashow@sawcc.org.

We use the UN definition of South Asia, which includes: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka.