Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable”
Cesar A. Cruz
The project Forcefully Unveiled sparked a lot of conversations during its presentation. Many women opened up about what happened in their lives, regarding sexual violence. This made me want to expand this project by working together with other women who have experienced sexual abuse. The project is about reclaiming your body after somebody took it from you without permission.
In this series I work together with women to create a painting. In the process the woman with whom I work is in control, since it is about her and not about me. I want the series to be as personal and diverse as possible, representing women from different ages and backgrounds; sexual violence is not limited by age and/or background. The painting can be a portrait, a full-body painting, a painting from a distance, a painting in nature or inside, a painting during movement or inaction, naked or clothed; all depending on what suits the model best.
Before getting started, there will be as many meetings as the model needs to get to know each other and feel comfortable. Until I start painting there are no obligations. The model can bring somebody along to the meetings if preferred.
For this project the primary source for the painting will be a photograph, which means we will make pictures which I can then paint from. We will choose the picture to work from together. The pictures will be confidential and will be removed in its entirety when the painting is done.
The most important reason for the model to participate should be either personal or social. The model wants to come to terms with her body/herself and uses this process to achieve this. Another reason could be speaking up against violence against women after experiencing it. My aim is to paint 25 women in 2025.
When the project is done, the model receives a high-quality print of the painting. To get an idea about the painting style/technique, please check out my other project Forcefully Unveiled or the rest of this website.
This project shines a light on something that often goes unnoticed and doesn’t get talked about. One in ten students get raped in the few years they spend studying and almost 20% of all women get raped at least once during their lifetime (Amnesty International, 2021).
Only by being honest and open about what is happening we can break the circle of violence against women. We have to create awareness and take away the shame that accompanies abuse. The perpetrator should be ashamed, not us.
All paintings made for this series will be exhibited throughout the Netherlands.
If you are interested in participating in this project, feel free to get in touch via info@theartofrachelclimo.com