Boundaries and Borders: Art

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Borders and boundaries have become a source of concern for people worldwide. A border is a limit, a line that marks an end, keeps things in or out. As Robert Frost’s poem famously states, “Good fences make good neighbors.” But that is only one side of the story. A border marks not only an end but also a beginning on the other side, that which is not so familiar to us. The Spanish word for border is frontera, the French frontiere, in each case denoting an expanse beyond what we know, a new horizon of possibilities. A border is also a margin and a periphery–space outside the normal range of our vision that yields its own riches.

In this three-part series, presented by The Dallas Morning News, PEN America, the Dallas Institute, and the Dallas Festival of Books and Ideas, we will examine positive aspects of borders. 

This session will concentrate on Art: how art in all its forms—literary, visual, dramatic, and more—promotes community and has the capacity to allow us to more fully understand and empathize with people and circumstances unfamiliar or even previously unknown to us. The event will include presentations and conversations on the ways that the arts push through and transcend boundaries and how art defies borders as limits and see them as thresholds to new dimensions of beauty and meaning. The event will be followed by audience interaction. 

The event is free and open to the public.

Sanderia Faye serves on the faculty at Southern Methodist University, is an instructor at the 2017 Desert Nights Rising Stars Conference at Arizona State University, and a professional speaker and activist. Her novel, Mourner’s Bench, is the winner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in debut fiction and The Philosophical Society of Texas Award of Merit for fiction. She is co-founder and a fellow at Kimbilio Center for Fiction, and her work has appeared in the anthology Arsnick: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Arkansas. Faye moderated the grassroots panel for the Arkansas Civil Rights Symposium during the Freedom Riders 50th Anniversary and is coordinating the first AWP African Diaspora Caucus.

A native of Taipei, Taiwan, Jin-Ya Huang arrived in the United States at age 13. As an immigrant, she was inspired to relate her experiences to her new life. At the intersection of Mother/Artist/Educator/Mentor/Community Organizer, Huang realized this is the narrative she wanted to use to project kindness that make positive, everlasting social impact. Huang is the founder of Break Bread, Break Borders (BBBB), a catering organization with a cause toward social enterprise empowering refugee women economically through the storytelling of cooking, food, and culture. Her interests are to invest in social, financial, and human capital to promote racial/gender equity, diversity, and inclusion.

David Lozano serves as the Executive Artistic Director of Cara Mía Theatre and specializes in writing, directing and producing bilingual plays. Notable writing credits include Crystal City 1969 (co-written with Raul Treviño), Nuestra Pastorela (co-written with Jeffry Farrell), To DIE:GO in Leaves by Frida Kahlo, The Dreamers: A Bloodline, and Cholos y Chulas (all devised with Cara Mía Theatre). Recently, Lozano co-wrote Deferred Action for a Cara Mía Theatre and Dallas Theater Center co-production at the Wyly Theatre. Last fall, Deferred Action toured through Texas and performed at the Encuentro de las Americas international theatre festival in Los Angeles. Directing credits include Deferred Action, Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca, Lydia by Octavio Solis, The Magic Rainforest by José Cruz Gonzalez (with Jeffrey Colangelo), a bilingual Romeo and Julieta by William Shakespeare and adapted by Lozano and Frida Espinosa Müller, The Dreamers: A Bloodline by Cara Mía Theatre’s ensemble, Milagritos by Sandra Cisneros and adapted by Marisela Barrera, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and adapted by Amy Ludwig, and Crystal City 1969. Lozano is proud to return to WaterTower Theatre after directing Native Gardens last spring.