This body of work intends to be a visual eye-opener into one of the most omnipresent, devastating and socially ignored criminal behaviors of our time. It draws attention to the magnitude of domestic violence, also know as IPV (intimate partner violence), gender-based violence and femicide.
The World Health Organization identifies violence against women as the most pervasive, yet least recognized, human rights abuse in the world, and has more recently dubbed the impact that Covid-19 isolation measures have had on victims and their children as the “shadow pandemic”.
In the context of this exhibition... I have focused on presenting the truths and consequences of violence against women – from an intimate to a global perspective. And, as it is said...“a picture is worth a thousand words”, I have chosen to present known facts and statistics in visually dimensionalized forms.
I was stimulated to create this body of work in reflection of my first installation about domestic violence in 1991-92. At that time, while living in Los Angeles, the statistics were that a woman was assaulted, or subjected to violence, every 15 seconds – today that has been reduced to every 9 seconds. Things are far worse now – than I could ever have imagined three decades ago.
GALLERY INSTALLATION OVERVIEW
TRUTHS
Overlapping mirrors with text representing statistical data allow viewers to become visibly part of the work. This intends to underscore that although seemingly invisible, this hostile environment surrounds us every minute of everyday - be that globally or locally - whether we chose to acknowledge it’s presence or not.
144” x 79’ x 2’’
Mirror, vinyl, magnets, aluminum laminated wood panels
EVERY NINE SECONDS - Any town, Any time, Anywhere
This piece is a dimensionalized portrayal of the chilling U.S. statistic ‘every nine seconds a woman is beaten or assaulted’. 264 paper houses positioned on nine platform visually resemble what appears to be a small generic community. The houses have been blind-embossed with text stating that this could represent any town, anywhere and be taking place at any time. Every nine seconds the calm of the setting is visually and audibly interrupted as a random house lights up red with accompanying audio. On the surrounding walls, 'every nine seconds’ has been translated into different languages.
Platform arrangement
124” x 183.5”
Paper, fibreboard, wood, LED lighting, Arduino and electrical circuitry, audio, speakers
Walls with text and translations
144” x 79”
Vinyl
AFFAIRS OF THE HEART
This painting is an adaptation of an anatomical engraving from the 1,700’s. The English translation of the dimensional Latin text located towards the bottom - ‘Rebius Cordi Numquam Mutant' is “Affairs of the Heart Never Change. Inclusion of this piece in the context of the Behind Closed Doors exhibition, intends to stimulate thought on the role that inherent and timeless unfettered human emotions play in violent human to human interactions.
48” x 72” x 5.25”
Wood, silicone, acrylic, LED lighting, porcelain
CONSEQUENCES
This piece intends to reflect deadly and irreversible consequences of domestic violence and IPV. It is a reiteration of one aspect of my first installation about DV, dating back to 1991. The original project titled ‘Black + Blue’ involved acquiring hand-written commentary from inmates at the California Institution for Women who at the time were incarcerated for killing their intimate partners as a consequence of domestic violence. Their revealing correspondence speaks of the devastating impact that domestic violence had on their lives.
Now, three decades later, what was being conveyed is as relevant today as it was then. Tragically, as though time stood still, the content is as relevant today as then. As a collective grouping the content provides an intimate, handwritten portrait of lives tragically and irreversibly destroyed.
Walls (x2)
144” x 79” x 4.5”
Carpet and side table
74” x 26”
Thirteen re-purposed vintage and second-hand picture frames, re-purposed wood side table, particle board, wood, textile, metal, glass, paper, carpet
4,000 + COUNTING
The ‘Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls of Canada', inquiry concluded that there have been over 4,000 women and girls that have gone missing or been murdered. This piece is comprised of 4,ooo individual pieces which intend to honour and represent the spirit and lives of those lost - those, who not unlike ourselves, once had hopes and dreams for the future which were robbed from them. The individual pieces gently move with the ambient airflow and reflect surrounding light. The work represents the dark reality of this shameful statistic and the disgraceful burden that Canada must carry forward as a part of it’s history.
96” X 60” x 3”
Aluminum, plastic
HOSTAGE
This piece intends to provide viewers with an intimate perspective on what life might look like for victims and their children when hunkered down 24/7 with their abusers during pandemic closures. The re-purposed vintage Victorian-style doll house with it’s classic fairy-tale exterior belies what is going on inside. Interior walls, ceilings and floors of the dollhouse, including select objects, have been covered with camouflage patterning to metaphorically simulate a war zone. This treatment intends to reflect both the victim’s voice and the victim’s tyranny over them. The pandemic has only exacerbated what was already an existing hostile environment for victims and their children.
Doll house on plinth
27” x 19” x 40”
Re-purposed vintage Victorian doll house, wood, wallpaper, textile, various 1:12 scale objects, paper, metal, glass, plastic, flocked artificial greenery, led lighting, egg shells
Base plinth
48” x 48” x 8.25”
MDF, wood
WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?
This piece is about the complexities of individual human circumstances, vulnerability and risk that is out of one’s control. One third of the balls in the bingo cage, those in red, intend to represent the shocking statistic that one in three women world-wide have been subjected to assault or abuse.
27” x 19” x 19”
Re-purposed bingo cage, plastic balls, metal, poly clay, video
FEMAIL
What at first glance, appears to be seductively beautiful tresses growing out of a large re-purposed circuit is in reality copper telecom wire used extensively in technology. This piece intends to reference a quickly emerging and growing extension of violence against women and girls - online cyber violence. Victimization involving sexual and gender-based crimes that occur in cyber space, and/or are facilitated through technology have global reach, are difficult to escape or stop with victims often traumatized and re-victimized over and over again. In the virtual world, women and girls are sexualized, lured, targeted, harassed, cyber bullied and stalked, as well as marginalized with real-time devastating consequences.
23.75” x 83” x 14”
Re-purposed circuit board, re-purposed door, copper telecom wire, steel, castors
