Papergirl Leeds: The Art of Giving

What is Papergirl? The Papergirl project is essentially a movement dedicated to getting art into the publics' hands, originally created by Aisha Ronniger in 2006 in Berlin. Papergirl is a show, an urban action, a bicycle workshop and a party! The elements are key: participatory, analog, non-commercial and impulsive. Anybody who wants to, can participate. You can submit work or help to distribute. Papergirl is distributed unedited and consisting of original artwork.


Papergirl, Berlin exhbition photo by berlincat

Art is collected and submitted, exhibited and then lovingly bundled up to be handed out by papergirls and boys on bicycles to unsuspecting members of the public. Suprise! Imagine if you got one of these beautiful original artworks placed in your hands in a flash by a bicycling papergirl distributer! The spontaneous action will hopefully put a smile on the recipient's face.

A true movement grows and grows, and that's exactly what Papergirl has done. Started in Berlin, Germany new "branches" of the Papergirl tree have popped up into action all over the world! It made its UK debut in Manchester, with Glasgow and Bristol following suite.

PAPERGIRL LEEDS
ActiveARTS member, Laura Jordon has brought Papergirl to Leeds and has set up Leeds' first ever Papergirl event. Yay, the fun is spreading! Leeds will be the fourth UK city for Papergirl. This is a not-for-profit, radical event that will happen this Spring/Summer 2011 in Leeds City Centre.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:
We need artists of all shapes and sizes to submit their work. All submissions will be shown in an exhibition. Venue to be confirmed! After the exhibition, all work will be rolled into bundles, ready for distribution.

Papergirls (and boys!) will cycle around Leeds City Centre handing out the free artwork in the style of American Papergirls in a one-day event. We need people to help with spreading the word, cycling at the event, submitting their own artwork and curating an exhibition. YOU need to get involved!

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
All submitted work needs to be between A4 and A1 in size and must be able to be rolled up. Please write 'Papergirl Leeds' and any contact details you would like for the lucky person to receive your work (perhaps a lovely message too?)

There is no limit to how how many pieces of art you want to submit. The more the merrier!

By submitting your work you are consenting for it to be shown in the Papergirl Leeds Exhibition and to be given away to the general public for free in the Papergirl Leeds Ride Event. Submissions may be shown on the Papergirl Leeds and Papergirl World Blog (credited where URL details are included of course)

Please post all submissions to:

Papergirl Leeds
Flat 5,
6 Springfield Mount,
Leeds,
West Yorkshire,
United Kingdom,
LS2 9ND

For more news please join the Papergirl Leeds facebook page

Hijacking Valentine's Day for Womens' rights

The Women's Memorial March came about as a response to the increasing number of missing or murdered women. A particularly brutal murder of a women happened in Vancouver, Canada which prompted women to action. An annual march on Valentine's Day was started to commemorate those women and to bring about compassion in the community as well as providing awareness on a national and global scale.

Decades later, the march continues to honour the lives of missing and murdered women, as well as raising awareness regarding the welfare of women today.

Gender inequality is an important issue that affects women all across the globe. Millions of women in developing countries are facing gender inequality which is in turn reducing them to poverty.

Six out of ten of world's poorest people are women and girls, less than 16 percent of the world's parliamentarians are women, and two thirds of all children who are not in education are girls [http://www.womankind.org.uk/statistics.html]

Many other young girls will leave school early, marry too young, and miss the chance to reach her full potential. A survey in India found that girls who married before age 18 were twice as likely to report being beaten, slapped, or threatened by their husbands as were girls who married later (International Center for Research on Women, Development Initiative on Supporting Healthy Adolescents [2005], analysis of quantitative baseline survey data collected in select sites in the states of Bihar and Jharkhand, India [survey conducted in 2004].) The subject of gender inequality contributes to the endless cycle of poverty and we need  to do something about it!

The Craftivist Collective has been hijacking Valentine's Day for the past 3 years. The crafty activist group aims to spread some global, neighbourly love by hiding alternative Valentine's Day cards around the public area; cashpoints, supermarket ailes, park benches..the possibilities are endless, which is what makes it so much fun!


Photo by Craftivist-Collective

We at Leeds ActiveARTS are proposing to hijack Valentine's Day this year by leaving alternative Valentine's Day cards and handmade gifts to the unsuspecting public of Leeds. We want to raise awareness of Womens' issues and equality rights.

ALTERNATIVE VALENTINE'S DAY WORKSHOP IN LEEDS
Want to get involved? We are holding an Alternative Valentine's Day workshop at REMADE in Leeds Hyde Park, at 6.00PM on MONDAY 31ST JANUARY. Come along to make cards, letters and heart shaped keyrings! Then help us deliver them across Leeds!

Bobby; a woman enpowerment worker from India

In India, girls from as young as ten can get married to a man of her parents' choice. Women are treated like commodities; once they have married, are treated like property. It is known that women are beaten, raped and even killed when in care of their husbands and their parents.

Experts have estimated that there are 100 million missing women. 100 million fewer women in the world than birthrates would project. That’s more women dead than all the men killed on battlefields in the 20th century, and more than all persons killed in the genocides of the 20th Century.

Walking into Bobby's shop I was greeted with a cup of chai and sat crossed legged on the floor the smell of incense filled the air. Bobby began to talk very fast and was extremely enthused that we were the first westerners to enter that day. We enquired about her business and she explained:

“I am an educated woman that I have a voice that I am willing to use it, I am privileged that I can speak English so I can communicate to tourists, what the Indian women have to go through.”

I sipped my Chai and smiled, slowly welling up feeling rather humbled to meet this amazing lady. She used her hands so expressively and passionately when she talked to me, and said,

“These women in the villages get a chance to now earn money. By them sewing textiles for me, I then sell them (fair-trade). Women in villages earn an income to get respect of their husbands, and his family, as they own her. I run this shop that helps women, men come in and touch me, this culture a women who runs a business is un-heard of especially in the country-side, So I then have to ring my husband, to chuck the man out, did you see him? He’s big”

What is Leeds ActiveARTS?

Hello and welcome to the blog of Leeds ActiveARTS.

Leeds ActiveARTS was founded by young artist and campaigner, Lana Johnson. It was made for and consists of people who are creative types! This may include aspiring graphic designers, performance artists, illustrators, photographers, film makers, fashion designers, advertisers or any other creative people who are interested in collaborating together for projects insipred by local and global issues.

Lana says "I believe as young artists we need to be the voice of the cultural future and there is no way better to begin this journey but by creating a greater community dynamic within our art world."

The aim of the group is to come together and create a platform in order for our voices to be heard. By staging events, exhibitions and making contacts, we can grow as a movement and as a community. We are young creative adults who are the voice of the next generation, so let's get together and inspire change, not later but now!

If you are interested in joining Leeds ActiveARTS, please click here and join the facebook group. Don't be shy, we are all really friendly!!