Call Them Out was an interactive art installation featured in “In the forests: sexual violence and (y)our environment,” a collaborative art show between feminist run New Fruit art collective and Hey Baby! Art Against Sexual Violence – Portland, ME – July 2017
Statement:
“This piece is an invitation to explore strength through vulnerability. This calling out is a release. It is an act of empowerment for us, for survivors. It is the letting go of what weighs us down. It is the embracing and uplifting of ourselves. Radical self-love is a practice; this is the practice. This piece is a call for accountability. It is a push for a culture in which shame and silence around sexual violence are eradicated. It is a testimony of our power as survivors. It is a shift- of fear away from survivors and instead placing it where it belongs: on perpetrators/predators/rapists/abusers. Together, we fight this monster | this plague | rape culture. And we survive.”
Call Them Out consisted of a bed that I set up in an area closed off by curtains, so people could interact with the piece independently and on their own accord. I hung a brief text above the bed, sharing my story as a sexual violence survivor, and invited the viewers to share as well. I also noted that the headboard would eventually be burned and would cease to exist, other than in a short documentary video of it burning as a part two of the piece. People interacted with the piece by wood-burning words and images of significance into the headboard of the bed. Most people burned things such as the names of their rapists/abusers and phrases like “dad” or “neighbor.” Perhaps most poignant of all, someone burned “I protected the wrong person” into the top of the headboard. The project was created to be a therapeutic release; for many, it was the first time they ever felt safe enough to share about their experiences. I was overwhelmed with gratitude by those who thanked me for creating space for that in an art piece, and I was met with a resounding desire for “more spaces like it.”
