Mapping Abuse: New Interactive Art Exhibition Empowers Survivors To Pinpoint Where They Were Harassed
A new interactive exhibition aimed at mapping out locations and instances of sexual harassment across the Maltese Islands is inviting anyone to take part in this eye-opening art piece.
The piece, created by Pia Micallef, is a political art installation intended to “invoke thought and discussion among exhibition viewers… to help viewers better conceptualise the widespread nature of sexual harassment in Maltese Islands”.
“Not if, but W H E R E ?” is an interactive piece of art which takes the form of a map of Malta, Comino and Gozo. Audience members are encouraged to utilise the paints provided near the piece to annotate where across the islands they have faced sexual harassment, abuse or violence.
Heartbreakingly, the Valletta/St Julian’s areas saw the most cases of harassment, with some more on Gozo – and even on on Comino.
Not if, but W H E R E ?
The interactive exhibition is part of Xewka F’Qalbi Xewka F’Sormi is a collective exhibition celebrating 10 years of the Women’s Rights Foundation curated by Rachelle Deguara and conceptually developed conceptually with Emma Agius running until 3rd December 2023.
“Initially, the Curator of Xewka F’Qalbi, Xewka F’Sormi, Rachelle Deguara, contacted me to moderate a panel discussion to close off the exhibition, entitled “Not if, but when?”,” Micallef told Lovin Malta.
“The panel discussion’s aim was to have an exchange on the concept of the normalisation of rape culture. While we were formulating the idea for this panel, one of the main frustrations that kept coming up was the fact that so many people could not seem to concretely grasp the normalisation of rape culture unless they were directly affected by it.”
“It felt a lot like one of the main frustrations myself and the curator shared about this topic was that if people couldn’t see something, they tended to believe it doesn’t did not even exist.”
“I was going home by bus that night and when I stopped at the Valletta terminus I looked at a map and it suddenly inspired me to create this piece,” she continued.
“A lot of instances of sexual abuse and harassment which I know of actually have happened on buses, so the thought process felt right. I reached out to Rachelle to tell her about the idea as I thought it would be a good idea for another exhibition and she immediately wanted us to seize the day and include it as a spontaneous piece mid-exhibition.”
Micallef is known as a local activist active within the field of combatting sexual harassment and rape culture for multiple years. This is Micallef’s first showcased exhibition piece.
It is being exhibited in Roża Kwir, Balzan, until 3rd December.
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