Harsh Reflections on a Sunny Day

“Polygon Gallery, North Vancouver” Phone Photo DS

Trigger Warning: violence against women

Pussy Riot Exhibition

I entered the Polygon Gallery: I wanted to be a witness. Even before the first image performed, a whole body sob escaped from my throat. I had to take a moment before continuing. I was fine, even happy that day, in the middle of the North Shore Writers Festival. I think it was the yellow bruises on her inner thighs. I think it was the thought that women have to go to such lengths and suffer so much to push back against injustice; to be heard. The Gorilla Girls information was there alongside the Pussy Riot Graffiti. I had the ear mufflers on to survive the volume of the 50 plus videos of Pussy Riots in Russia.

My breath caught when I saw that in the Medieval churches, they were pleading to the Virgin Mary to help them. I found myself praying that God would help them. I thought, could anything like that happen here? Violence against women in Canada has risen so much in the pandemic. Now that the pandemic is over there is silence. But silence has always been the fallback position to continuing trauma. We Canadians are very polite.

In Canada, in 2022, 184 women and girls were violently killed, primarily by men. One woman or girl is killed every 48 hours (Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability, 2022).

https://canadianwomen.org/the-facts/gender-based-violence/ Accessed April 14, 2024.