📅 Through Sunday, February 23, 2025
🕓 10 am – 5 pm daily
📍 Bainbridge Island Museum of Art: 550 Winslow Way E, Bainbridge Island
💰 Free admission
🚢 Steps from the ferry terminal
The passport is both a key to freedom and a symbol of restriction. Having the right passport can allow you to go where you please, but their very existence highlights national boundaries and related structures of control. This fascinating tension lies at the heart of “Crossing the Line: The Passport Re-Imagined” at Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA), where 28 artists explore travel documents through the lens of artist books—three-dimensional art objects that tell or reveal stories.
Twelve artists were specially commissioned for this show, creating works that range from playful to profound. Kitty Koppelman’s “Gender Passport” imagines safe passage beyond the gender binary, while Amos Kennedy’s sobering “A Slave Pass” recreates an 1843 Virginia travel document for an enslaved person, transforming what an artist book can be while confronting historical restrictions on movement.
The exhibition delves deep into themes of:
- Migration and displacement
- Family heritage and belonging
- Climate change and environmental refuge
- Identity and freedom of movement
Anneli Skaar’s “Nansen’s Pastport” stands out for its innovative materials and powerful message about climate refugees. It’s displayed alongside a piece of history: an original Nansen passport, the first internationally recognized refugee travel document.
💁♂️ Pro tips:
🚢 Take the ferry from Seattle for a perfect winter day trip
🎨 Join free “Open Book Tours” (third Wednesdays/Saturdays at 11 am) to handle the books
🗣️ Don’t miss the artist panel on Saturday, January 11th featuring four exhibiting artists
☕ BIMA’s Bistro is open Monday – Saturday until 4 pm
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