How did Jina’s art end up in the Smithsonian?

Jina was included in the A Book About Death exhibition. Each artist submitted 500 pieces that were then joined into 500 unbound books about death. 

The exhibition is verified on ArtFacts

https://artfacts.net/exhibition/a-book-about-death/919104

See Jina’s work here on the exhibition website:

http://abad2019.blogspot.com/2019/04/022-jina-wallwork-great-britain.html

A number of those books found their way into various collections. The exhibition was at the Islip Art Museum. On their website, they link to the project website that includes art by all the artists including Jina Wallwork, and they also mention the many collections these unbound books went to. They include the Smithsonian. 

See the list on the Islip Art Museum website:

https://www.islipartmuseum.org/2019_ABAD.html

On the Smithsonian website, you can find it under Chuck Welch papers relating to mail art, 1974-2019. You’ll notice in the collection information it states, “contents of the 2019 ‘A Book About Death’ 10th Anniversary exhibition with supplemental information.”

See the entry on the Smithsonian website: 

https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/chuck-welch-papers-relating-to-mail-art-22047

That’s how Jina’s artwork found its way into the Smithsonian.

The unbound book also found its way into other collections including:

The Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY
The Alternative Traditions in Contemporary Arts Archive of the University of Iowa
The Book Art Museum, Lodz, Poland
The Museé de la Poste in Paris, France
ARTPOOL, Budapest, Hungary
The Fluxus West Archive, St. Louis, MO
B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library, LIU Post, Brookville, NY
Museum fur Kommunikation, Berlin, Germany
Museum Schloss Moyland, Bedburg-Hau, Germany
Museum fur Kommunikation, Bern, Switzerland
Moscow Museum, Russia
The Mumok, Vienna, Austria
Karuizawa New Art Museum, Japan