Why
The project is about women of different ages and with different background. They are all different, but all of them have something in common, something deeply hidden – borders. Borders that are already crossed or will never be crossed, borders real and mental, borders created by politics, religion, tradition, fear, social criticism, complexes, discrimination etc. “Bord(h)ers” is an interdisciplinary art and social project, which consists of interviews with women and their own visualization of their stories about the borders made by them. The name of the project describes the femininity of the topic and the perception of the borders from the point of view of a woman born in a patriarchal society. Does she feel comfortable being a woman? Does she like her body? Which superstitions does she have? Or maybe fears? Or beliefs?
Location
Grodzka 5, 20-400 Lublin, Poland/22.56844997406006,51.24846670730112,4/1000x300.png)
Characteristics
Area
Lublin is a city inhabited mostly by Poles with small immigration from Ukraine. The city is strongly catholic and traditional. Otherness is noticeable and not very well received because of the size of the city.
Audience
it affects everyone who is different and takes a voice to speak about that or behaves (looks, act) differently.
How the audience/participants were reached or discovered
I was looking for women crossing my own borders.

(c): Martin Serdeczny
Met them on a street.

(c): Martin Serdeczny
Knocked their doors:

(c): Martin Serdeczny
Visited them:

(c): Martin Serdeczny
How it was done
How
Interviews
Collecting stories: I made interviews with women I met in Lublin about their borders. These borders were stories from their everyday life, woes and, more over, fears. I talked with women from all social straits and backgrounds. The women were invited to have a 1 or 2 hour talk (sometimes we meet few times) in different places comfortable for them, where their stories were recorded.
Sound
There was made a sound installation based on the stories of women I talked with. And one more sound+light installation with a noise of the wall-breaking moment, where women where mentioning their fears and sins.
Drawing
Interviewed women were invited to draw their borders the way they see them.
Exhibitions
The exhibition took place 8 of September at Galeria Labirynt2.
Writing
During all time in Lublin I was writing a diary about Bord(h)ers and its women. The future book Bord(h)ers will be based on this diary.
Results
Those 11 women I met them all in a small Polish city: a girl who is fighting with cancer, a woman who leaves a good paid job in the embassy and goes to travel with her bike, a blind street musician, victim of violence, a young single mom, a lesbian, a black skin woman, a woman who decided to leave her husband and her job and write a blog for women, an ex-punk rock singer, a foreigner, and an eco-village activist.
How it went
Main lessons learned
When I begun the project I was expecting to hear about women and their borders or problems. At the end I realized, that all of them already overcame their borders. They changed my project. But I consider that my success, not failure. I de-objectivized them and let them be a part of my project, make it flexible and alive.
Inspiration
My inspiration was Lublin and its secret places where you can escape from reality.

(c): Martin Serdeczny

(c): Martin Serdeczny

(c): Martin Serdeczny
Credits
My best guide ever in Lublin was Magda Luczyn. She made me to fall in love with this city and showed me some lovely or horrible , but still amazing places in the city, where tourists and even locals don’t go.
Activity Timeline
2016
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Bord(h)ers.
“Bord(h)ers” is an interdisciplinary art and social project, which consists of interviews with women and their own visualization of their stories about the borders made by them. The name of the project describes the femininity of the topic and the perception of the borders from the point of view of a woman born in a patriarchal society. Does she feel comfortable being a woman? Does she like her body? Which superstitions does she have? Or maybe fears? Or beliefs?
(c): Martin Serdeczny
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Bord(h)ers. Exibition.
(c): Martin Serdeczny
(c): Martin Serdeczny
(c): Martin Serdeczny