The theme for the inaugural FrameWorks program is “Wall.” It is a theme that speaks to the current social, cultural and political zeitgeist. Depending on your perspective, a wall can keep you safe or block your escape. Walls may keep people apart or hold them together. Walls memorialize heroes and incarcerate villains. They serve as canvases for artists or metaphors for writers. Walls are built to the glory of Empire and are felled with hammers in freedom celebrations. Some walls, it’s rumored, can be seen from space. Others are invisible, imaginary constructs.

Fellows are encouraged to interpret this theme broadly as they identify a cultural artifact that engages it. Cultural artifacts may include but are not limited to novels, poems, philosophical texts, political rhetoric, graffiti, murals, tapestries, performances, paintings, sculptures, musical compositions, Rock and Roll albums … even actual, physical walls.