Voices of Violence

Voice of Violence is produced by the Danish Cultural Institute in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The exhibition and its public event will take place as part of the programme of Hullunud Tartu (Crazy Tartu) festival.

Voice of Violence is a guest exhibition in Kogo Gallery’s programme 2022 that as a kind of ‘vibe’ bears the title Past is the Present. We use this poetic and semantically playful phrase to describe how time as a vehicle transports certain events and experiences from past to present.

The Nordic and Baltic countries as well as Belarus face many of the same issues when it comes to gender equality, sexism and gendered violence, and no matter where you live gendered violence is, undeniably, a common social phenomenon.  

Voices of Violence is a project that tells the stories and experiences of women living in Denmark, Iceland, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania who have been exposed to sexual violence, sexism and gendered harassment. The exhibition is aiming to provide a space where their frightening reality can be voiced and made audible. Listening and understanding is the first step towards action and change.

The Voices of Violence space takes the shape of a labyrinth of experiences where Danish, Icelandic, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Belarusian actresses give voice to anonymous stories, revealing the scars and marks the experiences leave on many women.

At the end of the exhibition, you are invited to anonymously tell your own story and read the experiences of others. Growing as it travels from country to country, Voices of Violence reminds us that no one should remain silenced.

#VoicesOfViolenceHeard

One of the crucial movements nowadays, led by second-wave feminists, is to study women’s history. Learning the story of many great women who until now have not been equally valued in our male-centred society inspires us to become more gender-inclusive. Besides that, another critical topic, a dark side of women’s history and a continuing concern today, is gender violence in various forms, from forced abortions and beatings to workplace harassment and unwanted touching. 

Inflicted pain from the past is brought as a dark shadow to the present and shades our future, tremendously impacting the whole of society. The #metoo movement acts as therapy on both personal and societal levels. With many women’s painful and personal stories, we hope this project will encourage us to move urgently towards a more compassionate society, leaving discrimination and violence to the horror stories of the past.

Kogo Gallery programme is supported by Estonian Cultural Endowment and the City of Tartu.

The stories gathered within the project Voices of Violence can be heard online on the website of the Danish Cultural Institute in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Find there more info about who has supported the project.