FREE SPEECH AND CENSORSHIP : EXHIBIT AT THE SKIRBALL

SKIRBALL CULTURAL CENTER

 

Hello Mudda, Hello Fudda...  The Skirball presents songwriter Allen Sherman in two days... and for some reason right now I want to eat a massive amount of jelly beans! 

 

Seems I head out for an afternoon to Skirball almost as often as I head out for the Getty for an afternoon.  Seriously though, a couple months ago I went to an exhibit there, the title of which I'm ashamed to not remember, and they had copies of books that had been banned including Little House on the Prarie, as well as a row of T-shirts hanging on wire hangers.

Each T-Shirt had gotten a kid who wore it to school thrown out of school, or at least sent home to change.

It really got me thinking about the Ist Amendment and Free Speech and whatever it was that our Founding Fathers intended.  (At the same time there was a Founding Fathers exhibit with original documents, some which had never been let out of the National Archives.)

I once, as a teenage, got thrown out of a candy store because I was wearing a T shirt that was for a Democratic candidate.  The owners were Republicans.  Not only did they refuse me a sale, but they wanted to know WHO MY PARENTS WERE!

What a load of shit!

Dates me, doesn't it!

 

C 2013-2026 Christine Trzyna

SKIRBALL CULTURAL CENTER : WOMEN HOLD UP HALF THE SKY EXHIBIT IS A CALL TO FEMINIST ACTIVISM

Just the other day I went to Skirball Cultural Center to see about the exhibit "WOMEN HOLD UP HALF THE SKY."

I strongly suggest you do too.

This exhibit was emotionally stirring. It also re-excited my long felt feminism. The focus was on women in Africa and India and other 3rd World Countries but are those women so different that we in the United States?

The presentation is of light, airy sculptures that hold women's wishes which hang for long stretches above you . Or you can focus on a sheet screen while simply listening to the recording of women's voices.

You can write out your wishes for women you know on blue paper leaves which will be integrated into the airy sculptures or using a code on a computer that you're given when you come in, to move more Skirball money into micro-loans that can make a major difference in a woman's ability to support herself. thus participatory art also allows you to be an activist. How does that feel?

Subtle in presentation, there are the also the horrible statistics which do bring the issues of women not getting the medical care they need, or the educational opportunities, or being respected by their own husbands closer to home. There were also tributes more folk art by nature, to women who had died in childbirth.

Every ninety seconds another woman dies in childbirth in this world. There are estimated to be 10,000 women held in slavery (mostly as domestics) in Los Angeles alone. This slavery is not to be confused with the sexual slavery and sexual trafficking in which a hundred thousand mostly young and often innocent teenagers, are sold and forced into prostitution here and around the world. Los Angeles is a prime intake and movement place for these sexual slaves.

Also on exhibit at the Skirball are a few pieces about women and domestic violence, some testimonial in nature.

Here is a quote from one of those pieces. "Real love can be felt in the heart. It cannot be pounded onto our bodies."

THE LINK TO THE EXHBIT, which includes donors such as Dermalogica, DNA Foundation, and The Women's Center Los Angeles, is above.

C 2012-2026 Christine Trzyna

POSTING FROM SKIRBALL CULTURAL CENTER : THE 1000 JOURNAL PROJECT ONE MORE WEEK!

"The Journals have traveled by air, sea, and land throughout forty countries and all fifty states. They've been the subject of treasure hunts, hidden in remote caves, abandoned at airports, left in the lost and found, and stolen at gunpoint. If you're local you have one more week to go in and add some art, poetry, or other writing to a journal page... I did today... LINK TO THE FULL STORY - 1000 JOURNALS TRAVELI(NG! - and Skirball Information.

SKIRBALL : MONSTERS AND MIRACLES A JOURNEY THROUGH JEWISH PICTURE BOOKS

Link now to the Skirball Cultural Center....

"Showcasing more than 100 original illustrations, this delightful exhibition takes visitors on a journey through the world of Jewish picture books from the 16th century to the present.... "

Included are Maurice Sendak, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Lemony Snicket, and Art Spiegelman." (These are the authors I've read. I have Singer and Spiegelman in my collection." Christine Trzyna


Skirball
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
LA, CA 90049