Berni Searle
On Either Side
October 1 - December 14, 2007


Berni Searle, "Friends, between mangroves 1," 2005, pigmented inkjet print, 100 x 120 cm

The work of South African multi-media artist and 2007-2008 Estelle Lebowitz Visiting Artist-in-Residence Berni Searle is featured in the exhibition On Either Side, opening Monday, October 1, in the Mabel Smith Douglass Library Galleries and continuing through Friday, December 14, 2007. Douglass Library is located on Rutgers Douglass Campus, 8 Chapel Drive, New Brunswick, NJ 08901.

Searle will present a public lecture titled, "dis-appearance: exploring the ideas of visibility and invisibility in the work of Berni Searle," in the Mabel Smith Douglass Room in Douglass Library on Wednesday, November 14, 2007. The lecture begins at 6:30 p.m.; it is preceded by a reception with the artist starting at 6 p.m. The public is invited to these events which are free of charge; however lecture reservations are requested at: events@rci.rutgers.edu or call 732-932-7505. Exhibition hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Thursday; Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m., and by appointment.

Berni Searle, who works primarily in video and photography, lives and works in Capetown, South Africa and New York City. Her art works examine the conceptual intersection between personal and social identity as it relates to history, memory, heritage, race, and gender.

Searle has been widely exhibited both in South Africa and the United States and is one of three artists currently featured in the Museum of Modern Art's annual exhibition, "New Photography," on view through December 2007. Her work is also featured at the Temple Gallery, Philadelphia, in "Re: Print Re: Present Re: View." Searle has also exhibited at the Apex Gallery, NY (2000); the House of World Cultures, Berlin (2000); the Dakar Biennale (2000); Authentic/ Ex-centric at the 49th Venice Biennale (2001); the Busan and Shanghai Biennales (2004); the 51st Venice Biennale (2005); and Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts Galleries (2007). In 2003 she was presented with the Standard Bank Young Artist award; in 2004 she was short-listed for the inaugural International Artes Mundi Award. Searle's work is included in numerous private collections and in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington DC; the National Museum and Gallery of Wales; the Johannesburg Art Gallery; the Berkeley Art Museum; and the Daimier/Chrysler Collection, Germany, among others.

Berni Searle's exhibition and lecture have been organized under the auspices of the Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series, a joint program of Rutgers University Libraries and the Institute for Women and Art . The Dana Women Artists Series, now in its 36th year, is the oldest continuous operating venue for showing both established and emerging women artists. Curators are Judith K. Brodsky, professor emerita, Department of Visual Arts and Founding Director, the Brodsky Center (formerly Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper), and Dr. Ferris Olin, head of the Margery Somers Foster Center, Rutgers University Libraries. Brodsky and Olin are co-directors of the Rutgers Institute for Women and Art (IWA). The Institute for Women and Art is a unit of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and operates under the auspices of the Associate Vice President for Academic & Public Partnerships in the Arts & Humanities. The IWA is a consortial member of the Institute for Women's Leadership.

This exhibition and lecture are sponsored by the Institute for Women and Art, in partnership with Rutgers University Libraries; Associate Alumnae of Douglass College; Brodsky Center and Visiting Artists Series/Visual Arts Department, Mason Gross School of the Arts; Center for African Studies; Department of Art History; Douglass Residential College and Barbara Voorhees Leadership Initiative; The Feminist Art Project; Institute for Research on Women; SAS Office of International Programs; and Women's and Gender Studies Department. This event is made possible by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/ Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts; the Associate Vice President for Academic & Public Partnerships in the Arts & Humanities; and the Estelle Lebowitz and Maria and Henry Leon Memorial Funds.

The Dana Women Artists Series exhibitions also participate in The Feminist Art Project, a national program, headquartered at Rutgers' Institute for Women and Art, celebrating the aesthetic, intellectual and political impact of women on the visual arts, art history, and art practice, past, present, and future, online at http://feministartproject.rutgers.edu.