Greetings. This blog is a part of The Sugar Project: A multidisciplinary social engagement installation being created and facilitated in Seattle, WA by (me) artist Michelle de la Vega that explores dialogue about women as commodity and how that reality manifests in our every day lives and culture.
One emerging theme is the relationship between commodity and violence. As well documented as this relationship is, and as many forward strides as women are making in other areas of our lives....the violence factor is not getting better.
As I embark on this project I've found that so many women I talk to have a story...a story about either being afraid of or having experienced violence. The ubiquity is astounding.
Since I am a "social engagement artist", endeavoring to creatively partner with community through dialogue that illuminates voices and fosters exchange, I decided to start this blog.
I'm reaching out to women to anonymously share a story in which you experienced the fear, threat or reality of violence. I believe in the sharing of stories as an ancient human healing device, as a "shared table" and agent of change. I'll be sharing my stories too.
HOW TO SHARE
To share your story:
- Click "comment" in orange at the very bottom right of this post (it will also show the number of comments to the left).
- At the bottom of the comments you will see the “Post a Comment” field.
- In the "comment as" drop-down menu select “anonymous”.
- Click into the "Post a Comment" field and write as much or as little as you need to.
PARTICIPATE IN THE SUGAR PROJECT INSTALLATION
If you feel open to including some or all of your text in the Sugar Project Installation please indicate with the word “YES” at the end of your story. No personal identities will be tracked on this blog what so ever, or used in the installation. The stories will be written in granulated sugar on the gallery floor, as you can see in the photo here.
Sugar is being used as an artistic medium in several ways in the project: As a metaphor for women as sweet commodities that exist to be consumed, as a symbol for the messages girls get from very early on to be as sweet as possible and please everyone around them, and as a globally traded commodity - as are women. Your words are a welcome addition to the creative exchange around this vital conversation.
LOCATION OF THE INSTALLATION
The Sugar Project will be exhibited in a two-gallery partnership opening on April 1, 2017 in Seattle, WA. The two spaces are Oxbow Installation Space and Bridge Productions Gallery. For more information on the project please message me via the contact page at: http://michelledelavega.com/
Thank you for being here and joining in this important conversation!
- the sunlight on the garden hardens and grows gold -
ReplyDeletea poem written even after years of dialog after being abused as a younge girl, by an older neighbor boy, who as a foster child very well might have had his influences of abuse.
my life story has been shaped by this abuse; as a piece of mud to becoming clay to a well fired vessel. now, working to heal not to break; except hopefully the breaking of the abuse cycle. choosing wisely.
i love the interweaving theme of this piece by this artist.
my hope is for this sugar project to change the direction of many many lives for better.
YES
The one I’ll choose is this one: The narrow escape. I was in high school. One afternoon I ended up at the house of a….friend. He was the singer in my town’s super cool punk rock band. A few other people were there, but after a few hours of swimming in the pool and drinking a concoction he named “thunder fucks”….everyone else left. Just he and I then. Just us friends. At some point I went to use the bathroom, it was a small bathroom. I just remember him suddenly being in there with me, looming over me in the corner, sour breath, strange eyes, slack smile, like it was his casual right, So much his right that it was sort of no big deal to him. I said no, he advanced, cornered, loomed, smiled, bared down. No again, and a few more. He was menacing and amused all at once. All my hackles were up as a confused reality was not quite making sense to me. I had no preparation for this moment, this scenario. I remember those moments in warp time, like the world was tipping in the wrong direction. Bearing down in the corner of that little bathroom in that big house with no parents around. And then suddenly he backed off. An inexplicable split decision altering a thing that would have marked me forever. I don’t know why he stopped, what switch flipped in his brain that turned off the menacing grin and left the room.
ReplyDeleteYES