Living Room Art Productions

In December 2006, Voices Breaking Boundaries (VBB) established our living room art series, an innovative approach designed to bring art directly into residential communities in Houston. The Living Room Art series was created by artist Oskar Sonnen who based the idea on historic art salons and the less formal living room exhibitions of his college days. The goals of living room art are: to bring together disparate neighborhoods and communities; to bring together diverse populations who may not ordinarily go to a gallery/museum; and to tackle social justice through art. All VBB living room art productions are multidisciplinary allowing space for spoken word artists, writers, performance artists, musicians, and speakers. In 2009-10, VBB's Living Room Art shows shifted focus to dedicate the shows for three years to a thematic neighborhood-based series productions that are researched and developed by VBB's Founding Director Sehba Sarwar. The shows focus on creating parallels between struggles, joys, and cultures in cities and neighborhoods around the U.S., and to connect them to similar issues in Pakistan and South Asia. The future goal of the project is to travel to other neighborhoods in different parts of the world including countries such as Mexico, India, Palestine and more. The specific goal of the project is to uncover histories that are lost and to explore the stories of individuals that have served as catalysts for change.