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Voices Of Shakti
Voices of Shakti; the Ongoing Struggle exhibition is the result of a series of individual and collective discussions, observations and interactions that developed over a period of five months between South Asian women from Apna Ghar (Our House) Inc. a domestic violence organization in Chicago and artist Indira Freitas Johnson.
The original installation/exhibition, Voices of Shakti, demonstrated the South Asian cultural dimension of domestic violence and how some traditions provide legitimacy for this violence against women. Immigrant women, who seek refuge at Apna Ghar and other shelters, defy age-old traditions that assign a caretaker role to male members of society on behalf of women. Alone both literally and metaphorically, they struggle with religious and cultural perceptions of themselves as woman, wife and mother. Using ritual, myth and cultural artifacts to bring the issue of domestic violence, to the foreground, Voices of Shakti demonstrates the cultural dimension of domestic violence and the courage and strength required to start a new life.
Voices of Shakti; the Ongoing Struggle continues the original conversation, started seven years ago, to include voices of other women (besides South Asia), native-born American women, of European, African and Hispanic heritage. It addresses issues related to their individual ethnicities as well as ones that embrace society in general; alienation, patriarchy, body image, identity, de-valued labor, traditional family values, etc.
Voices of Shakti has traveled to numerous sites where local communities participated in the creation of new images for the installation. Some of the locations include Illinois Weslyan University, Bloomington, IL, St. Catherine's University, St. Paul, MN, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA and de Paul University, Chicago, IL. Accompanying community discussions were stimulating and provocative, educating and empowering viewers, especially South Asians, and other immigrants who have not had many opportunities to question the hierarchies that influence their lives.
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