One in Three
Opening:
Thursday, August 16th, 7-9pm
Kontort Production Space
86 Miller Street, Toronto
About the project: According to the World Health Organization, one in three women experience some form of physical or sexual intimate-partner violence or non-partner sexual violence during their lifetime. It is a difficult number to come to as few cases are reported to authorities. Differing resources, cultural norms, and interacting systems of oppression affect the statistic itself and also how the violence it represents plays out in people's lives. In Canada, 57% of indigenous women and 83% of women living with disabilities experience sexual assault. Children (male and female), young women, transgender individuals, and women of colour are also disproportionately targeted.
Experiences of violence have significant effects on individual's physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health. And they are common. Why then are sexual assault and intimate-partner violence often isolating experiences for those of us who survive them? And is society’s response commensurate with the scope of the problem?
Seven years ago, I started into the process of revisiting a trauma of my teenage years with support from a counsellor at a nonprofit sexual assault centre in Nova Scotia. The pages of my sketchbook from that time are punctuated by a repeated drawing of a careful grid of small, nearly identical cubes. It was an absent-minded doodle at the time, but is symbolic in retrospect of a search for order — and perhaps solidarity — through a difficult time.
One in Three seeks to bring that drawing to life. Fifty open cubes are laid out in a careful grid. Each measuring 30" x 30" x 30", they are built using traditional woodworking joinery. Two of every three cubes face forward. The others are rotated slightly, quietly invoking the statistic “one in three”.
Alongside the installation, a series of looping 15-second videos will play. Each was recorded on a cell phone or laptop. Participants were asked to reflect on the statistic “one in three” by opening their eyes for two seconds and then closing them for one, repeating this five times. Many also shared a statistic that they found meaningful, disturbing, comforting, amusing, reaffirming, or surprising. These will be presented as a list in wall text at the opening.
*If you would like to submit a video or statistic, please reach out to carey.anne.jernigan@gmail.com!
Experiences of violence have significant effects on individual's physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health. And they are common. Why then are sexual assault and intimate-partner violence often isolating experiences for those of us who survive them? And is society’s response commensurate with the scope of the problem?
Seven years ago, I started into the process of revisiting a trauma of my teenage years with support from a counsellor at a nonprofit sexual assault centre in Nova Scotia. The pages of my sketchbook from that time are punctuated by a repeated drawing of a careful grid of small, nearly identical cubes. It was an absent-minded doodle at the time, but is symbolic in retrospect of a search for order — and perhaps solidarity — through a difficult time.
One in Three seeks to bring that drawing to life. Fifty open cubes are laid out in a careful grid. Each measuring 30" x 30" x 30", they are built using traditional woodworking joinery. Two of every three cubes face forward. The others are rotated slightly, quietly invoking the statistic “one in three”.
Alongside the installation, a series of looping 15-second videos will play. Each was recorded on a cell phone or laptop. Participants were asked to reflect on the statistic “one in three” by opening their eyes for two seconds and then closing them for one, repeating this five times. Many also shared a statistic that they found meaningful, disturbing, comforting, amusing, reaffirming, or surprising. These will be presented as a list in wall text at the opening.
*If you would like to submit a video or statistic, please reach out to carey.anne.jernigan@gmail.com!
I am grateful to the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for their support of this project. Thank you also to Devin Woods, Heidi Earnshaw, Amanda Jernigan, Kim & Ed Jernigan, and all those whose support enriches this work!
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