WOMEN WITHOUT WORDS: POR-TRAITS

RED FLAGS

The project started from the importance of building relationships from a secure bond and had as its main objective the identification of warning signs in couple relationships. It is at this point where we must talk about the “red flags”; Terms that are being consolidated in society, with a presence on social networks and with the help of mostly youth groups. Focus attention on the color red, and use text and image as main elements; We approach experiences, objects, contexts and actions that provide indications of risk situations or that can lead to abuse.

The next step was the creation of a mural, which grouped the corresponding red flags, leaving space for community participation to complete it. We worked with groups of adolescents with functional diversity.

THE MAN CAVE

With this project we wanted to provide training to empower women and help them have a space generated by the association and feel it as their own so they can use it. A training workshop was opened to create these spaces. Around 30 women and men attended, distributed between Negreira, Santiago de Compostela, Val do Dubra and Trazo and there they were given theoretical-practical tools to create their own spaces. During the pandemic, when some of our offices moved into our homes, we realized how important it is to make our homes feel welcoming; and this project helps us go one step further.

One of the main objectives is to help women who have accessed the training to have a space generated by the association, to feel it as their own and to be able to use it. Not all of us have homes that help these spaces exist in the private sphere, hence the importance of a community cave.

FOR BEING WOMAN

This is an awareness project that aims to raise awareness among the population about a global problem such as gender violence that affects thousands of women around the world. Violence against women is a real war that kills tens of thousands of women around the world every year. It is a crime against humanity, a violation of human rights in the public and private spheres that affects all women simply for being women. With the aim of denouncing, raising awareness and getting a real response from institutions, contemporary activist and artist AleXandro Palombo created the work “Only because I am a woman” in which he represents some of the women protagonists of world politics as victims of gender violence Following Palombo’s line, with the project “Because I am a woman” we try to use art as a tool and carry out a campaign in which different influential women from the Galician community will be presented as victims of abuse, with eyes and lips bruised and numerous injuries in order to reach more people and raise awareness that gender violence can knock on any door.

First, a poster prototype was designed to contact influential women. Then a list of women was created and they were contacted to carry out the project, take the photographs, do the makeup, etc. Once everything was agreed, all the posters were mounted and the relevant permits were requested to be able to hold the exhibition in the Plaza do Toural in Santiago de Compostela. Finally, massive dissemination was carried out on social networks. Videos were created for the campaign that reached a total of 50,000 views in total. https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cz8wEOEMipl/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Influential women participated in this project such as: Antía Pérez (soccer player), Ana Meilán (writer), Lucía Pérez (singer), Elba Pedrosa (actress), Lucía Aldao (writer), Estíbaliz Espinosa (writer), Pili Pampín (singer). ), Amaranta Rodríguez (director and room manager), Chus Lago (mountain climber), Susana Pedreira (journalist), Ana Vila (poet), Fátima Pego (presenter), Carmen Morante (President of the conference of deans of education) , Sica Romero (writer), Noa Moreira (writer), Marta Brañas (athlete), Vero Boquete (footballer), Yaiza Otero (footballer), Teresa Duro Leis (Councilor of Social Services, Women and Equality of Negreira), Leti da Taberna (digital content creator), Oceana Soares (president of the association), Marta Doviro (monologue), Lúa Mosquetera (poet) and Estíbaliz Vega (actress).

HIDDEN PORTRAITS

Evgenia Smirnova created a series of illustrations about the psychological agony suffered by abused women. When it comes to violence against women, most people think of physical violence, but in reality, psychological abuse is often more dangerous. Humiliation, intimidation and control lead the victim to a state of anxiety, fear, feelings of worthlessness and loneliness. In these illustrations, this artist tries to reflect some situations that psychologically abused women experience, key words that try to describe and shape that feeling, such as “fragility”, “soul”, etc. Psychological gender violence is an aggression that is carried out without any type of physical contact, but causing emotional damage to the victims. Physical violence produces traumas, injuries, marks, but on the other hand psychological violence is damage that increases over time, the longer it lasts, the deeper the damage will be. This project involved the involvement of educational centers and children in order to create social awareness about the problem of abuse and gender violence in today’s society.

Through the illustrations, a dynamic, illustrated presentation with examples was prepared to explain the chosen topic. This exhibition was held and carried out at the CEIP of O Coto de Negreira and at the CEIP Barouta of Ames. During the exhibition, a dossier was delivered in parallel with activities to be carried out in the session itself in a dynamic way and at the end the illustrations were shown, thus ensuring that each boy and girl could see and identify different feelings, situations and Moments reflected in them.

SELF-PROTECTION TECHNIQUES

This project arises from the initiative of the Karma Nirvana organization created in England in 1993 that fights for the rights of women and children. They work for gender equality and respect for the human rights of all children. They are based on providing support to all victims of honor-based abuse, which translates into honor-based abuse, such as forced marriage at a very young age, genital mutilation, domestic violence, trafficking in women , etc. In particular, the initiative that inspired us to create this project was “Spoon of Hope” with the motto “a small spoon can save a life.” It is about spreading the importance that a simple spoon can have when it comes to saving the life of a woman or girl, as it can be in cases of trafficking, kidnappings, etc. When a woman or girl is kidnapped, they usually go through airports, checkpoints, etc. So, if you hide a spoon in the middle of your clothes, when you go through the metal detector, it will beep and it may be a good time to talk to the guards and ask for help.

The main objective of this project was to present a series of protection techniques designed for women regardless of their age. Techniques or instruments that will be found routinely in everyone’s daily life. The main idea was to choose several key points in municipalities such as Santiago de Compostela, in this case Plaza do Toural and Parque da Alameda; and through the installation of an information and dissemination stand, an approach was made to the population to explain and publicize the different techniques and instruments. Although the main recipient of this project is the female sector, it was also interesting to be able to reach everyone, to create awareness and greater dissemination among the entire community.

IMAGES IN MY HEAD

Gender stereotypes are ideas and beliefs rooted in the popular and collective subconscious about what women’s roles in society should be like. They are characterized by attributing certain traits, attitudes, behaviors and patterns to the way of being a woman. These ideas are part of the collective imagination and although most of the time they are not tangible, the large number of people who share them make them become ideas that are difficult to refute. Following the general line of the program, with this project we wanted to give light to each of these ideas and turn them into images and portraits. It started from different premises: “a room full of women”, “hunting in prehistory” and other similar ones. The portraits, phrases, ideas, drawings, etc. They could be sent through social networks or in personalized mailboxes with which adolescents with functional diversity between 8 and 18 years old participated.