March 27, 2012
Media Contacts:  Leilani Montes;  Olivia Canlas
Email: nynj@af3irm.org
Tel: 212-726-2254
Address: P.O. Box 2693 New York, NY 10163-2653

NEW YORK:  Melanie Cervantes and Madonna Davidoff will add their work to AF3IRM’s multi-media celebration of the work of women which opens on April 21st, 7 pm, at the Yippie Museum, 9 Bleecker Street, Manhattan, 10012.

Melanie Cervantes is Xicana and works with Dignidad Rebelde.  She has been asked by Indig-Nacion to create a poster for the 2012 May Day Strike Call;  the poster will appear in both on line and print publications of the group.  A graduate of the University of California Berkeley, Ms. Cervantes learned color theory at an early age from watching her mother select fabric for school uniforms and technique from her father who transformed neighborhood junk into a child’s treasure.  She is also a member of the Taller Tupac Amaru, Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative and the Consejo Grafico.

Madonna Davidoff is Filipina but has resided, aside from Manila, in the United States, Switzerland, Singapore, and Bali, Indonesia.  Her aesthetics are a compound of traditions derived from these places.   Being an illustrator, graphic designer and mix media artist, Ms. Davidoff has had her work appear in the Washington Post, Village Voice, Cable View and Asia Lifestyle Magazine.  Her works have been exhibited at the FusionArts Museum in New York city, Cedar Ridge Gallery in Toronto, Canada, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum in Japan, GSIS Museum in Manila, The Museum of the Americas in Florida, The Museum of Art and History in Fribourg, Switzerland, the New Delhi F.A.C Society Gallery in India, Visconti Gallery in Paris, France, and the Mesnerhaus Gallery in Tirol, Austria.

The two join Sarma Ghermay, of Eritrean origin, and other transnational women artists to present visually the range and significance of women’s work, from the home to the office to the factory and field.

According to Olivia Canlas, who curates the exhibit with Leilani Montes, “it is seldom that we ponder upon the pivotal role women play in keeping the most basic structures of our society operational.  It is AF3IRM’s mission to keep a constant focus on the critical nature of women’s work and to advocate for comprehensive equality and justice for women.”

AF3IRM chose the theme for the 2012 exhibit with great deliberation, being mindful of the continuing attempts by right-wing groups to constrict women’s rights and the public space for women’s engagement in national discourse.  “It is discouraging to be called a slut for speaking out about one’s rights,” Ms. Canlas said.

The pieces on exhibit will be on sale.  Part of the proceeds will go to enable AF3IRM NY to conduct its Purple Rose campaign against the outsourcing of entire departments in corporate operations – a tactic that depresses wages and de-unionizes the workplace and encourages trafficking.   As the major share of the proceeds will go to the artists themselves, the exhibit is also a means of supporting transnational women artists in their creation of a culture representative of their life experiences.

Exhibit hours at the Yippie Museum are from 7-10 pm, April 21-May 5, 2012.  Please RSVP to nynj@af3irm.org or call 212-726-2254 for either the opening or closing events, media coverage or to purchase a piece.