Using art as a medium to raise awareness on gender-based violence
Nisaa FM: - Fighting gender-based violence through art has been a tool long used by feminists and feminist movements. Women have resorted to an array of tools and platforms – protests, literature, newspapers, television and many more to raise awareness.
It is a constant battle, nevertheless, with gender inequality being one of the most defective characteristics on which the society is built and the most powerful reason behind gender-based violence. And physical violence is not the most dangerous type of gender-based violence. Women in Arab conservative societies suffer from a systemised inequality shaped throughout centuries of silencing women and carving a perfect patriarchal system that reinforces male privileges against women’s right to be equal.
Combating gender-based violence through art
Jordanian artist Rand Abdul Nour’s recent series of paintings ('Article no. 308’) evolve around a major violation of women’s rights in Jordan, particularly Article 308 of the Jordanian Penal Code. Article 308 allowed a rapist to escape punishment by marrying his victim was finally scrapped in August 2017 after years of campaigning by women’s activists.
Abdul Nour spoke at a conference organised by the Institute of Women’s Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW) at the Lebanese American University in Beirut. The event was part of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence in December 2017.
“I was angry because [Article 308 allowed] women members of parliament to worry that victims of rape won’t be able to get married and Jordanian media accused victims of consensually being part of the rape,” Abdul Nour said.“I want violence against women to end and art is my medium. As painters, we have a bigger role than painting. We are also documenters. We are anthropologists, too.”
Political leaders have throughout history used art for indoctrination and propaganda purposes. But also activists and human rights defenders have used art to break taboos, address inequalities and send political messages. Hannah Wilke, Renate Eisenegger, Ewa Partum and Frida Kahlo are a few of the numerous women artists who challenged gender inequalities and social norms through art.
“The importance of art as a medium to raise awareness on gender-based violence has been an integral part in fighting societal and legal control on women’s bodies,” said Maya El Helou, an expert at the Gender and Sexuality Resource Centre in Beirut.
She elaborated that, “In many Arab countries, women do not have the freedom to decide. Their private lives, including getting married and having children, are rarely under their control. When they are subject to harassment and sexual violence, they are often blamed by the society. As well, women’s body is being used as a sexual object of attraction. In advertisements and male-produced art, it is a means to attract customers or viewers.”
Helou contended that art has been historically an important medium for breaking taboos and pointing out social violations through portraying women in a way that is uncommon, yet eye-opening.
“Painting, sculpting and performing free women from chains preset by the society. It allows women to express their feelings. It also opens important conversations about male privileges and dominance, stereotyping and exploitation of women’s body,” Helou said. Fighting gender-based violence is a long process that starts with deconstructing the social, legal and economic roots of gender inequality.
For Abdul Nour, human rights and especially women’s rights are crucial motive for her work. “It is true that art can’t abolish violence but it can open the conversation,” she said. “Then, it is the viewers’ role to start making the change in their own circles.”
Source: www.thearabweekly.com