2025

These portraits are dedicated to and commemorate women who are victims of femicide, survivors of sexual violence and abuse, or who have been exposed to misogyny/misogynoir. 

In 2024 on the International Women’s Day the Swiss-Sudanese politician and feminist Mandy Abou Shoak reported to the Zurich Cantonal Council that in Switzerland, their own four walls are the most dangerous place for women. Zurich Cantonal Police are called out 20 times a day to help against domestic violence. That danger is exponentially greater for people with disabilities, racialized people, and queer people. In the Canton of Zurich, on average, a woman loses her life every two weeks by being murdered by her partner or ex-partner. Across Switzerland, the police are alerted 20,000 times a year because of domestic violence against women. The number of unreported cases is much higher. In Iceland in 2019 Angela Y. Davis spoke at an international conference dedicated to the #metoo movement and said that gender-based violence is a global pandemic.

Alongside these works, I also invited my partner, visual artist Petri Saarikko, to contribute a selection of his paintings, which he will be activating during the opening and which, in this context, symbolize solidarity and bring light into the darkness.

15.3.–4.5.2024
I See You
Vebikus Kunsthalle
Schaffhausen, CH