One in Three
Shown here at the Small Arms Inspection Building in Mississauga & at Kontort Production Space in Toronto, ON.
One in Three can be adapted to different spaces. The full installation occupies 1650 sqft.
Shown here at the Small Arms Inspection Building in Mississauga & at Kontort Production Space in Toronto, ON.
One in Three can be adapted to different spaces. The full installation occupies 1650 sqft.
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 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 brings 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 videos play. Each was recorded on a cell phone or laptop. Participants close their eyes for one second of every three, reflecting on the prevalence of violence but also on the communities that come together through times of pain, strength, and change..
To watch the video or contribute your own, please visit www.one-in-three.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 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 brings 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 videos play. Each was recorded on a cell phone or laptop. Participants close their eyes for one second of every three, reflecting on the prevalence of violence but also on the communities that come together through times of pain, strength, and change..
To watch the video or contribute your own, please visit www.one-in-three.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; Lauren Reed; Amanda, Ethan, Kim & Ed Jernigan, and all those whose support enriches this work.