A Window Between Worlds Announces I CAN WE CAN Socially Engaged Art Project with Gallery Neuartig

VENICE, Calif., March 26, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A Window Between Worlds (AWBW), a nonprofit organization dedicated to using art to end domestic violence, in collaboration with artist Neda Moridpour, has created a socially engaged art project that invites action to end domestic violence. This collaborative art project includes an exhibition at the Gallery Neuartig located in the San Pedro arts district. The exhibition runs from April 1st through May 5th, 2013 with an opening reception that is free to the public on Thursday, April 4th from 6-9pm to coincide with the San Pedro Artwalk.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130326/DC83735-a)

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130326/DC83735LOGO-b)

Lead artist Neda Moridpour and AWBW have designed the ongoing art project with more than 400 participants throughout Los Angeles and worldwide. The exhibition includes works created by participants of the I CAN WE CAN workshops and invites the greater community to lend a hand, literally, to end abuse by joining in and painting on their hand as a symbol of solidarity and commitment to bringing awareness to this important social issue.  The goal of the project is to activate the community through art to end domestic violence and sexual assault.

The exhibition at Gallery Neuartig is a continuation of AWBW's I CAN WE CAN initiative, which launched in October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, on a digital billboard in Times Square.  Since then Mayor Villaraigosa has taken the pledge and joined with currently over 1,200 participants.  The exhibition at Gallery Neuartig includes audio, visual and text installations, public conversations and audible posters with I CAN pledges in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Farsi. 

A survivor of domestic violence herself, Neda shares, "I think of this exhibition as an unfinished documentation of a powerful process that just began. I am confident this collaboration with the San Pedro community and local domestic violence shelters will encourage people to find their I CAN and realize that WE CAN end violence in our homes and the broader community."

AWBW has partnered with the Center for the Pacific Asian Family, Rainbow Services, Womenshelter of Long Beach, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the Department of Cultural Affairs, The JIB Fund Community Building Initiative, the HHS, Office on Women's Health, and Gallery Neuartig to make this exhibit possible.  Other upcoming I CAN WE CAN events include Theatre of the Oppressed Intro Workshop to be held Friday, April 19th 9:30am -12:30pm at the nearby Grand Annex and A Public Conversation: Art for Social Change and the Silent Epidemic on Wednesday, April 24th 11am -12:30pm at Otis MFA Public Practice Studio.  To take the pledge and for all I CAN events and conversations go to ICANWECAN.AWBW.org.

About A Window Between Worlds
A Window Between Worlds is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using art to help end domestic violence.  Through creative expression battered women and children gain a sense of renewal and power.  Their images of hope, survival and strength educate the public and become "a window between worlds" for survivors taking steps to change their lives.  Since 1991 AWBW has provided creative expression as a healing tool for over 112,000 battered women and their children in crisis shelters, transitional homes, and outreach centers throughout the United States.

About Neda Moridpour
Neda Moridour was born and raised in Iran, where she developed a strong awareness for gender discrimination, violence, inequality, and censorship. In 2009 she moved to the United States where she encountered cultural and lingual barriers that have injected many socio-political and cultural themes into her creative repertoire. Engaging these conflictive subjects helps Neda speak through her art, which mostly blooms into sensuality, femininity and the maturation of her spiritual awareness, along with other public shared insights. Neda is completing her master's degree at OTIS College of Art and Design where she has engaged in a diverse body of work including videos, photographs, performances, and socially engaged art projects on issues of women in Iran, violence, and sexual abuse.

CONTACT: Audrey Salzburg | [email protected] | 310.396.0317

SOURCE A Window Between Worlds