More than 270 artists living in 27 countries have created passport/ID documents for "Your Documents Please," an international traveling art exhibition.

The lives of people around the world are shaped by their status in the groups and institutions with whom they interact. As globalization proceeds and local bonds are eroded, identification documentation such as passports, credit cards, drivers' licenses and calling cards has become the physical medium in which the political, commercial, cultural and ultimately the spiritual disposition of the individual are negotiated.  As new forms and criteria of identification are produced even the nature of identity is changed. This international traveling art exhibition reflects a contemporary spectrum of issues of identity and the impact of its documentation.

For “Your Documents Please,”the organizers, Daniel Georges and Rumi Tsuda, in conjunction with the New York based arts organization, Alma on Dobbin, asked participants to make a small artwork (the size of a conventional passport or less) that functions visually or conceptually as if it were an identification document. As the show has traveled, new "documents" by local artists have been added.

In keeping with the focus on ID documents, a letter size paper certificate with head photo of the artist, name, place of residence, country of origin as well as a photo of one of their previous art pieces and explanatory notes about what they have made for the show is presented in a vinyl sleeve with each artwork in place of a conventional label.

The exhibition opened at the Museum of Arts and Crafts– Itami, Japan, in April 2008 and has travelled to alternative spaces including ZAIM art space–Yokohama, 2B Gallery–Budapest, Galerie Kurt im Hirsch–Berlin, Z Gallery–Bratislava, and Galería Ajolote Arte Contemporáneo–Guadalajara. It is now in New York City at Alma in Manhattan hosted by Fine Light Inc. 601 West 26th St. 8th floor suite 835 (hours Wed. - Sun. 12-6pm) through November 21, 2010.

CATALOG

Below you will find an on-line catalog in the form of a complete list of artist links. Each link when selected shows the "document" the artist is exhibiting and a certificate similar to the ones displayed in place of labels in the gallery venues. You can also navigate to "next" and "previous" on the artist list from any given page. Three letter country of residence abbreviations in the list are followed by country of origin in parentheses if other than residence. Text in the "Identifying Notes and/or Characteristics" field relates to the document the artist is exhibiting. Links to artist web site urls in catalog pages, when available, will open in a new window.