Art in Dakar to denounce the street harassment suffered by women

Women often find themselves plotting and imagining safe routes, whether it is avoiding certain streets, changing sidewalks, taking taxis – when they have the privilege of having that possibility – or averting their eyes and adopting restricted body movements, which at the same time Sometimes they are resilient.

It is a strategy against the frequent and too much silenced harassment that they face in the streets on a daily basis.

A shared but diverse experience, depending on the different spaces and contexts in which they live and circulate.

This is the reality about which different artists want to raise awareness in Dakar.

They do so from a collaborative, collective and inclusive perspective, through the plurality of disciplines and the involvement of different sectors of the population – cultural or educational – as well as the Dakar City Council, the Henriette Bathily Women's Museum and the great public.

The project is called

(

, and is made up of an exhibition and a collective laboratory that began on Friday, April 8, and will close on May 15.

Ken Aïcha Sy. Kevin Aubert

The initiative is led by Sophie Le Hire, of French origin, based in Dakar since 2016 and who works with different media and artistic disciplines such as video, design,

, installation, illustration, sound creation and writing.

She also champions a methodology of "creative listening" where the voice is that of "the giants", as the artist refers to women.

Among her allies and collaborators in this project, understood as necessary as well as provocative and supportive, are Ken Aïcha Sy, founder of Wakh'Art;

Chloé Ortolé, film and television producer;

and the

(laboratory participants): women from civil society with diverse profiles and experiences.

We spoke with one of the key people in this project, Ken Aïcha Sy, a cultural activist with a long history of feminism and creative collaboration.

Ask.

They have been working on this project for more than a year, led by the artist Sophie Le Hire.

How does it arise?

Response.

I met Sophie when we worked together on a childhood project at the Kër Imagination center a few years ago.

I followed her work and it was she who came to me when she took over the

because he knew that I am interested in and work on the subject of women.

At first, she asked me to help her shape the idea, thinking about the way we were going to present it, through an exhibition, but also conversation.

There is also a plan for a film to be shot in July, and a catalog to be published after the exhibition in June.

In addition to thinking about those production and dissemination methods, I have helped her with the search for sponsorship and communication.

This is a collaboration between Wakh'Art and Sophie Le Hire, as well as a personal collaboration between her and me.

We have realized that women do not feel safe, especially at night, which makes it difficult to leave the family environment

P.

The project aims to question the place of women in urban space, why did you choose the Women's Museum to show it?

R.

From the beginning it was clear that it would be in the Women's Museum, although sometimes we have wondered if it would not be convenient to take it out of there.

That is why we scheduled a first public conversation in December, which was held at the City Hall, in the presence of Soham El Wardini, the mayor of Dakar.

We are very happy to have achieved it, because for us it was very important to involve someone who represented the State in this conversation and, in addition, the figure of a female mayor was very interesting.

We have sociologists, psychologists and experts in the field because it was essential to define the framework.

Bullying in the city of Dakar is not the same as in New York or London, and it was essential to understand this phenomenon in the local context.

So this set of experts allowed us to draw the context and what exists and doesn't exist,

P.

What can we expect from this meeting?

R.

In the exhibition you will see the paintings, the plastic works, exhibited on a set.

And, in the laboratory, you will be able to access the work of the

, women from Senegalese civil society, urban planners, sociologists, artists, activists… Each of them has produced a research paper, which will be presented in the exhibition.

As well as a video, questioning them, defining what harassment in the streets of Dakar consists of, in which the local perception of the subject is also discussed.

Then, on May 6, there will be a public conversation about the research work and a survey that we have carried out with 350 women, anonymously, in Dakar.

And there will be a third conversation in the university setting, to make it accessible to students.

All this will be part of the book that will be published in June, and will be distributed free of charge.

Later on there will also be a production of a film, directed by Sophie Le Hire, with dance professionals and choreographers,

to present research results.

Women's Museum and Memory Square. Estrella Sendra

P.

is a name that takes us into space.

What are your favorite places in the city of Dakar?

A.

One of my favorite places is, obviously, La Boîte à Idée, which is my project, but, above all, it is a space that I control and that I can define as safe.

It is one of my favorite places because it is about creation, listening and in recent years I have received many women with different stories and profiles, but who came here to take care of themselves, to be reborn, often through the arts.

Also the

because of my personal history, but also because it is a green and cultural space.

That is, one could walk around, get some air, and at the same time, learn and see things.

I also have a special relationship with the sea, so I go to the islands of Gorée and N'Gor a lot, I feel safe there.

And that is important because through

we have realized that women do not feel safe.

Especially at night, which makes it difficult to leave the family environment.

We need to have spaces like these, where we can express ourselves, share, learn.

Q.

As a woman, artist and activist, how do you think Dakar offers safe spaces for expression and creation for women?

And to what extent can it give rise to hostile experiences, becoming an

city ?

It would be a success if from this meeting people understand what street harassment is and to what extent this moral, physical and verbal violence is violence and that it is not normal

R.

There simply are no safe public spaces for women after sunset.

In Dakar they have started to introduce panels, for example, to offer safe exteriors.

For example, the mayor explains that every time they set up something, people end up degrading it, destroying it, almost as a form of sabotage.

Even so, projects are still being carried out, such as the one on the seafront, beyond the outdoor gym machines, streetlights are being placed and so on, but we return to the same thing.

How will people react?

Who are these spaces for?

You will not see any women walking alone at night in the port area, because it is an industrial area, poorly lit... They are dangerous.

The promenade itself and some beaches are places where we do not go at certain times.

And in the statements of the women, the large number of women attacked in the means of transport is evident, through words, touching... Unacceptable behaviors that have become habitual and that should not exist, because society has not always been like this.

And one wonders, what has happened to reach this situation?

One of the sociologists who has participated in the project said that micro-violence does not exist, that when they annoy you with non-consensual touching, or a comment on the street when walking, the next aggression is even more violent, and an escalation occurs .

And, as women, we don't want to keep accepting that.

Because society hasn't always been like this.

And one wonders, what has happened to reach this situation?

One of the sociologists who has participated in the project said that micro-violence does not exist, that when they annoy you with non-consensual touching, or a comment on the street when walking, the next aggression is even more violent, and an escalation occurs .

And, as women, we don't want to keep accepting that.

Because society hasn't always been like this.

And one wonders, what has happened to reach this situation?

One of the sociologists who has participated in the project said that micro-violence does not exist, that when they annoy you with non-consensual touching, or a comment on the street when walking, the next aggression is even more violent, and an escalation occurs .

And, as women, we don't want to keep accepting that.

Q.

What would you like to see and feel in the city of Dakar?

And how can

contribute to achieving this?

R.

For us, the simple fact of identifying this phenomenon through this project would be a success.

That from this meeting people understand what street harassment is and to what extent this moral, physical and verbal violence is violence and that it is not normal.

Because when we started the project, it was not obvious.

And I also hope that the material that we are going to generate will serve as research and reference material, and that our conversations will be taken into account by the leaders of this city.

For this reason, the support of this project by the Dakar City Council seems essential to us.

Perhaps from now on they will be able to integrate the security issue in future projects.

And finally, I also hope that this project will lead to the creation of physical and digital spaces for people, because, today,

even access to spaces where denouncing gender violence is complicated.

This project opens a door and a window on all these issues, and the lack of visibility of women in general, beyond specific contexts and spaces.

A long fight in which we have to advance.

Article published in collaboration with

, a cultural association dedicated to the dissemination of contemporary African art and culture.

It develops outreach activities through a digital magazine and training through a Virtual Classroom.

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