Welcome to FBA
Speak Near: Video Essay. Artist Statement. Research Philosophy. Curatorial Rationale.
At Feminist Border Arts (FBA), we believe in the power of stories. Now in its ninth year, this collaborative initiative by Drs. M. Catherine Jonet and L. Anh Williams, stands at the intersection of the humanities and arts, digital and analog media-making, and creative curation. Through signature projects like the Feminist Border Arts Film Festival (FBAFF), Feminist Border Arts Zine Fest (FBAZF), SJZ: Social Justice Zine, and original works in graphic narrative and filmmaking, we fuse creative practices with critical theories through a methodology called research-creation, transcending traditional academic boundaries and democratizing creative practice. As a platform, FBA brings together conceptual ideas, creative work, and research in the fields of women's, gender, queer, and feminist studies. It's a place where critical thinking meets creative media-making to explore and share new perspectives.
LET'S CONNECT THROUGH THE STORIES WE TELL: IN STORIES WE FIND OUR WAY
M. C. Jonet & L. Anh Williams
Founding Co-Directors
Researchers, Educators, and Creative Practitioners
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This website serves as the public-facing platform for projects that encapsulate FBA's interdisciplinary and transformative approaches to women's, gender, feminist, and LGBTQ+ research and critical and creative praxis.
2024 Feminist Border Arts Festival
Celebrate International PRIDE Weekend with Independent Film & Media in Las Cruces, NM
Anticipate two days of film, video, zines, workshops, and panels. Join us for the 2024 Feminist Border Arts Film Festival, kicking off on Pride Day, June 28 in 2024. The festival will also feature a concurrent zine fest, showcasing a variety of creative publications alongside our film screenings.
Day 1 - June 28: Immerse yourself in the world of film, from the US and around the globe. They educate, challenge norms, rebel against conventions, delight the senses, and demand change.
Day 2 - June 29: It's a zine revolution. Explore zines and zinema (video zines) that defy authority, journeys that break boundaries, comics that will change your life, and tales that celebrate community, social change, and creative expression.
2024 Sponsors
Sponsored by NMSU Gender & Sexuality Studies, University Art Museum, College of Arts & Sciences, Office for Equity, Inclusion, & Diversity, NMSU Global Campus, Research, Creativity, and Strategic Initiatives, Department of English, and Doña Ana Community College
Key Projects
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Latest: FBAFF at SWPACA
This presentation explores Feminist Border Arts (FBA), an interdisciplinary humanities-arts collaborative initiative housed in the academic program for Gender and Sexuality Studies at New Mexico State University. Introducing FBA’s role at the intersection of film and media, academic research, and creative practice, we highlight a range of projects—from curated film festivals to digital and comics zines—before screening a 60 minute program of short films drawn from the Feminist Border Arts Film Festival 2023. Serving as a hub for inter- and multidisciplinary collaboration, FBA is committed to fostering social justice and transformative change, traversing borders that are both literal and conceptual.
Latest: FBA Zine Workshop for J. Paul Taylor Social Justice Symposium
We're proud to collaborate with local educators and students at the J. Paul Taylor Academy and the New America School on participatory zine projects for the upcoming 19th annual J. Paul Taylor Social Justice Symposium, hosted by NMSU Gender & Sexuality Studies.
We conducted workshops that dove headfirst into the art of zine-making and its powerful role in feminist and LGBTQ+ histories, creative expression, and community storytelling. These sessions, led by Williams in early 2024, focused on empowering participants through hands-on learning and the sharing of personal narratives. After the workshops, the educators and Williams developed plans for zine projects.
These efforts will be showcased at the symposium, with teachers and students discussing their work and methodologies. The symposium will be a day-long event highlighting the importance of inclusive leadership and the impact of collective voices in the fight for social justice.
Join us at the Corbett Center Student Union Auditorium, where admission is free, and the exchange of ideas is boundless. Your voice is our community's and university's strength.
Latest: Limbus: Vertical Video Screening and Award
Jonet's short form moving image media piece, "Limbus," was selected for screening at the F3: Queen City Film Festival, Film Curation, & Film Awards in Cincinnati, OH during February 2024. This vertical video is a glitch collage narrative playing with tropes of witchcreaft and vegetal recharge. The description of the short states: "Limbus" is a cyborg manifest-0, a journey into vegetal witch glitch, a concept that blends femme and organic elements with digital disruptions, embodying the paradoxes of modern living while envisioning a techno-eco gender affirmation.
The short was also selected as an award winner by the festival.
Latest: Invited Talks & Presentations
Join us at the Seminario Internacional 2023 de Procesos Creativos en Arte y Diseño at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez on Oct. 30th, 2023.
Dr. Williams and Dr. Jonet, G&SS faculty and FBA co-founders, have been invited to present:
L. A. Williams: "Borderless Screens: Feminist Border Arts in the Intersection of Media, Scholarship, and Creativity"
This presentation explores Feminist Border Arts (FBA), a collaborative initiative housed in the academic program for Gender and Sexuality Studies at New Mexico State University. The talk examines FBA's transformative role at the intersection of film & media, academic research, and creative practice. Highlighting a range of projects—from curated film festivals to innovative zines—the presentation reveals FBA as an ever-evolving platform. Serving as a hub for multidisciplinary collaboration, FBA is committed to fostering social justice and instigating transformative change, traversing borders that are both literal and conceptual.
M. C. Jonet: "The Art of Failure: Glitches and Creative Disruptions"
Drawing on the works and theories of Jack Halberstam, Ocean Vuong, José Esteban Muñoz, Agnès Varda, and Brian Eno, this presentation explores how glitches and "failures" can serve as revolutionary acts of defiance and expression. We will discuss how these disruptions challenge our understanding of aesthetic value, offering new pathways for examining our shifting social, political, and digital landscapes in the 21st century.
Latest: Digital Media Research & Creativity
Jonet's piece, "Queer Glitches, Failure Feminisms," will be showcased at the international /’fu:bar/ festival and exhibition in Zagreb, Croatia (Oct-Dec 2023), as well as the Les Femmes Underground International Film Festival in Los Angeles. This work blends vintage visuals and modern digital elements, creating an intricate landscape that explores identity, gender, sexuality, and creative expression. Watch for the ‘glitch’ moments—they serve as powerful symbols that challenge and remind us of the complexities shaping our lives in this digital age.
Latest: A Graphic Exploration of Food, Narrative, and Community
Premiering at Albuquerque Zine Fest 2023, Upcoming Featured Work at Feminist Border Arts 2024
Feminist Border Arts (FBA) is thrilled to announce Cooking With Friends, a group comics zine project incorporating audio versions of many of the stories. Cooking with Friends was organized, edited, and designed by Dr. L. Anh Williams, who collaborated with eight other artists, including Will Betke-Brunswick, animator Stef Choi, documentary filmmaker Alix Towler, and Gender & Sexuality Studies professor emeritus Dr. Jillian Sandell, each of whom contributed both a story and a recipe. This compelling work made its debut at the 2023 Albuquerque Zine Fest on October 7 at Explora: Science and Children's Museum.
"Cooking With Friends" does more than merely share stories and recipes; it stitches a rich tapestry of lived experiences, interrogating the complex intersections of food with gender, race, and community. As part of FBA 2024, this zine offers readers an engaging journey that straddles the political, the creative, and the personal.
Ready to dig into more intellectually nourishing fare? Make sure to join us at FBA24 to explore Cooking With Friends and a smorgasbord of other innovative, intersectional works.
2023 Digital Media Kit
Uncover a curated collection of resources designed to empower you to express, engage, and transform through digital media. Check out digital media the kit.
About FBA
Our Philosophy: The Intersection of Creativity, Scholarship, and Practice-Based Methods
We believe in a symbiotic relationship between scholarly rigor and creative innovation. FBA is not just an academic initiative; it's a knowledge-producing space where ideas are not merely discussed but brought to life through creativity-based endeavors. Our work embodies a unique interdisciplinary dialogue that melds feminist and queer theories with media-based practices, collaboration, and curation. In this space, the creative process itself becomes a form of research and an integral part of inquiry and research output.
The FBA Landscape: A Screen for Social Transformation
Our initiatives, such as the Feminist Border Arts Film Festival (FBAFF) and the Social Justice Zine (SJZ), serve as conduits for arts activism and public scholarship, creating ripples of impact that resonate both locally and globally. Through these platforms, we challenge traditional paradigms and offer nuanced perspectives on complex issues like gender, sexuality, difference, and social justice.
Pedagogy & Learning: Bridging MACS and G&SS
Central to FBA's mission is our dedication to educational innovation. Our activities, including projects like "Concentration," which we have developed with accompanying learning activities, enhance the curriculum of NMSU's Gender & Sexuality Studies (G&SS) degree program and the Media Arts and Cultural Studies (MACS) concentration, offering students a hands-on, experiential learning environment. As one of the cornerstones of NMSU's G&SS, FBA acts as a living laboratory, enriching the academic landscape and offering students new avenues for inquiry and exploration in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies.
The Future: Charting Pathways
As we continue to evolve, our focus embraces a wide range of endeavors—from original projects like short films and video essay pieces to curated exhibitions, comics-based inquiry, zines, and collaborative initiatives. Our commitment is to dismantle the traditional barriers separating academia from creative practice, thereby redefining the potentials of scholarly and artistic collaborations. We are dedicated to forging relationships among scholars, artists, students, publics, and communities. Through these diverse modes of engagement, we aim to amplify marginalized voices, facilitate critical dialogues, and foster both intellectual and social transformations.
Join Us: A Platform for Expression
Whether you're an emerging artist, interested students, a seasoned scholar, or an advocate for social change, we invite you to become a part of our ever-expanding network. Here, your intellectual curiosity finds a creative outlet, and your dedication to social transformation gains a platform for tangible impact.
Advisory Board
FBA is a research-creation & curation intiative. We have formed an advisory board to support the scholarly and creative aims of festival programming & curation and other FBA projects.
Scholars, filmmakers, artists, curators, and other specialists serve a period of two years as advisory board members (with continued renewal possible).
Board members review 3-5 short films per year and advise festival directors on exhibition and acceptance of films in their areas of specialization. FBAFF is regional, international, transnational, and wide in scope. Areas of interest connect to feminist, intersectional, gender, women, disability, trans, queer, LGBTQ+, US, regional, transnational, and international subjects, including the environment, social justice, & war-experience. The festival accepts short form animation, documentary, digital storytelling, experimental, live action, and performance.
Interested board members also participate in selecting festival award winners.
GenXProf Social Media
Feminist Border Arts is a research-creation and curation initiative in D.I.Y. Media Studies and Methods by Jonet & Williams, located in G&SS. GenXProf social media (GensXProf on X - Twitter) supports FBA projects and G&SS.
Feminist Border Arts by M. Catherine Jonet and L. Anh Williams is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
