Refuge and Resistance Opens on March 7, 2009 @ 6pm (Brecht Forum, 451 West Street, New York City)

violence: injury enacted physically, mentally, emotionally and/or spiritually upon an individual or a group by or as if by misrepresentation or infringement (violation)

gendered violence: violence that is waged against individuals and groups because of gender identity, and also violence that shapes how we understand and live out our gendered roles in society

Project Description:
How do we live at home when it can often be a mortally dangerous space? How do we make and maintain home when it is so often a space of both refuge and resistance? How do we reclaim and celebrate home despite this violence and conflict? Refuge and Resistance is a mixed medium, multimedia installation that documents and imagines our myriad home spaces as we live through “gendered violence.” It poses these questions and invites the “observer” to experience and reflect upon the ways that we create safe space within the environment of a violent culture. It is a piece which speaks to global and domestic violence, and the inherent connection between these two seemingly different cultural and political oppressions. Simultaneously, it is a piece that speaks to the ways in which we transform ourselves by creating secure and loving spaces physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

Background:
In January, 2005, Ocean Ana Rising, Inc. produced the creation of a mixed media installation which commemorated the lives of survivors and victims of domestic violence. In March, 2009, these same artists—along with a team of kindred artists working with Ocean Ana for the first time—will mount a new installation/performance piece that expands on the impact of violence on our lives, bodies and home spaces. Refuge and Resistance will be opened at The Brecht Forum in NYC in partnership with Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory.