SAN ANTONIO, TX.- Word on the Street, an exhibition of original political and poetic banners created by renowned female artists and writers, opened January 10 at Artpace. Approximately 30 large-scale banners and flags are on view in the Hudson Showroom and Main Space through April 12.

An initiative by arts collective House of Trees in collaboration with The Watermill Center in New York, the exhibition features work by Carrie Mae Weems, Tania Bruguera, Anne Carson, Amy Khoshbin, Laurie Anderson, A.M. Homes, Wangechi Mutu, Jenny Holzer, House of Trees, and Naomi Shihab Nye. The banners and flags were created in collaboration with seamstresses with the Center for Refugee Services in San Antonio. Word on the Street represents a return to Artpace by Mutu, a resident alumnus.

“The purpose of this project is to demonstrate the power of art to shape society and to recognize, record, and honor the voices of all women,” said Noah Khoshbin, co-founder of House of Trees with siblings Jennifer and Amy Khoshbin. “The banners, having been made through a collaborative process between renowned female writers, artists, and refugee seamstresses, put artistry into action, addressing urgent political concerns.”

House of Trees originally created Word on the Street as a series of felt protest banners for the 2017 Women’s March in Washington, D.C. In 2018 the works were presented in Times Square, The Watermill Center, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Kimmel Center at New York University, Socrates Sculpture Park, and the PEN America World Voices Festival. The presentation at Artpace is the first outside of New York.

“I want to make sure that the audience knows that the show is connected heavily to San Antonio,” said Jennifer Khoshbin. “It’s been shown in New York, but it has components that were made by people in San Antonio – refugees in San Antonio, artists and writers in San Antonio.”

Founded by San Antonio and New York-based siblings Jennifer, Noah, and Amy Khoshbin, House of Trees is an arts collective working to expand the public appreciation and understanding of contemporary art through public art collaborations and curation, including: murals, performances, installations, and other high-visibility publicly engaged artworks. House of Trees' projects are interventions in unpredictable sites, curated for both specific audiences and the larger public. House of Trees has mounted projects nationally and internationally with venues including The Watermill Center, NY; Times Square, NY; Kimmel Center New York University, NY; the Hotel Tropicana in San Antonio, Texas; among others.