Travelling art gallery puts spotlight on sexual violence
Artists team up to bring compelling road show to Ohsweken community
Bold brown letters spray painted on the ends of an old shipping container read: “IT’S NEVER OK.”
The container, painted grey, is accented with colourful hues of blue, pink, orange and purple that read: “Sexual Assault: The Road Show” across its front doors. Inside, on the walls, there are framed pieces of art created by community members from the Toronto area.
The container is a travelling art gallery of sorts, designed to draw attention to sexual violence and it’s placed in the parking lot at Ganohkwasra Family Assault Support Services centre in Ohsweken.
The artwork highlights individual interpretation of what sexual violence means to the Toronto artist.
One piece says “My Body, My Rules” while another reads “I will not be pressured” another is a “to do” list with a number of household chores to complete.
“It’s very informative and it’s going to teach the youth about sexual harassment,” said Chuck Jamieson, 25, who was checking out some of the pieces hung on the swinging door.
“I have little sisters and a brother and I want them to be informed about this.”
Jamieson, who is from Six Nations, was among about a dozen people who stopped by to have a look. He said art can make it easier for people to communicate their thoughts.
“Art is a great way to express your feelings, your emotions. It’s so raw, it’s awesome.”
Sexual assault author and activist Jane Doe is the driving force behind the travelling container. Doe was attacked in 1986 by serial rapist Paul Callow in a downtown Toronto apartment. She launched a lawsuit against the Toronto police service for negligence and discrimination in their investigation. She was successful after an 11-year battle in which her case set legal precedent.
Doe partnered with Ganohkwasra and artist Lillian Allen to bring the road show to Ohsweken, a welcome addition to the community,
according to Sandra Montour, executive director at the Family Assault Support Services centre.
“Sexual assault is severely under reported in our community,” she said.
According to a report from Statistics Canada, aboriginal people in the country were nearly three times more likely to experience sexual assault in 2014 then non-aboriginal people, while the physical assault rate of aboriginal Canadians was nearly double that of non-aboriginal people.
“When one of our members are traumatized to that deep core spiritual level, it effects everyone and this project will help everybody to be able to voice their feelings around this issue,” said Montour.
Ganohkwasra artistic collaborator Julia Jamieson was on hand to greet and educate the curious about the purpose of the road show.
“It will go to 15 cities or communities over a three-year time. It will work with an artistic collaborator like myself and it becomes a women’s social service within the community.”
Through different mediums — spoken word, music, movement, etching and spirit paintings — community members are asked to identify issues about violence that speak to them.
“The container is right in the heart of the community which is so good because sexual assault is so hush and hidden out of fear and secrecy and it’s right here,” said Julia Jamieson.
“I’ll be doing workshops exploring very organically the topic of sexual assault also using art to educate on consent, bystander education and when we finish the workshops we’ll be doing a demonstration.”
The container will be in the community until the end of July. It will travel next to Hamilton for the August Art Crawl, featuring artwork created by the Ohsweken community.