Women Asemic Writers Exhibit

In late 2017 ten women who’d met in Facebook Groups, Asemic Exchange Project and Asemic Writing: The New Post-Literate started a chat about what it would be like to create a woman-focused exhibit of women asemic writers’ works.  We loved the idea and each of the 10 women reached out to any other women they thought should be included and this is how the group grew.  Any new members were encouraged to also reach out in the same way so each exhibit had old and new exhibitors.

The first exhibit in early 2018 featured 21 artists.  The last exhibit in mid-2020 featured 34 artists.  Over the course of seven exhibits, 50 different artists contributed.

These exhibits were very intentionally non-curated.  Any woman in the growing circle could exhibit whatever piece she wanted, it could be titled or not, it could have a description, a bio…the only requirement was a submission of work they deemed to be Asemic.

The exhibits are treeless, do not involve money, and offer quite different experiences based on the device of your choosing from a phone to a large HDTV.  

As webmaster and planner of this project, I looked forward to every moment spent interacting with a variety of creative and very interesting women from around the world.  It was an unusual project in that there were no hitches, no quarrels.  An open-ended deadline and date for the exhibits were group decisions made some weeks or months after a new exhibit was proposed.  The process was one of good cheer, support, and growing comradery as women shared potential pieces, got feedback and made decisions.  In PMs several women mentioned a strange dilemna where the pieces they were most ambivalent about were most “liked” by others and pieces very close to their heart were not “seen.”  I encourage myself and others to share what most expresses what we wish to share.  

I believe there is a strong cohesiveness and collective beauty in these exhibits that is very much related to the open and supportive environment in which it was created.

I would love to think there will be a time to open this project again but if not – it stands as testament of a way to do and share art that transcends male practices of curation and capitalism.

Kimm Kiriako June 2022