April 22, 2010

Ni Una Mas, the powerful Drexel University-wide collaboration of academic, student and institutional departments intended to raise awareness about gender violence and crimes against women in the Mexican border town of Juarez will kick off with ARTMARCH, a mass demonstration/performance art piece on the afternoon of Saturday, May 15. ARTMARCH aims for hundreds of participants, including 700 young women from Drexel University dressed in the iconic pink color of the victims’ memorial crosses in Juarez, to march through the streets of Philadelphia.  The students and community marching will arrive at the 33rd street Armory for a rally to raise awareness for the brutal femicides and abductions of young women in Juarez.  In the first three months of 2010, 34 women have disappeared in Juarez according to the just released report by the state attorney general’s office for the northern zone of Juarez.  The concluding ARTMARCH rally will feature concerned political figures and activists including Diana Valdez Washington, author of The Killing Fields: Harvest of Women and famed forensic sculptor Frank Bender.

Organized by Drexel University and Amnesty International, ARTMARCH will provide a forum to speak out against the awful crimes happening along our border for which no justice has been sought. ARTMARCH, along with a variety of other events such as film screenings, lectures and concerts, will demonstrate to students and the Philadelphia region that art can be a force for social change. If you want to register for ARTMARCH please click here.