'Text me when you’re home' was chosen for 2022- VISUAL NOISE exhibition - Maryland Studios
with photographer and art director Rankin
'Text me when you’re home'. Being a woman means that you will probably hear this sentence very often. Being a woman means understanding the fear that we all experience when returning home by ourselves. We know the constant struggle of having to go from one safe place to another, so this is what we can offer to each other, a simple sentence to convey this understanding. We would want to say “Don’t worry, I know how afraid you are, I know that you have to hold your keys while walking home, I know that you are thinking about all the things that could go wrong. I stand by you. So let me know when you’re safe”.
This is a collaborative project that explores the culture of fear that we live in. I asked women to participate by sending pictures that they took while being afraid, or during an episode of harassment they went through. We are taught to have this kind of anxiety, to feel our hearts race and our breathing get heavy, to be terrified all the time. Anything can happen. This uncertainty is as tangible as the violence itself. However, this project is a way for women to unite, to stand together and stand strong against this invisible threat that is our particular kind of fear.
Taking pictures in vulnerable moments can also be a constructive way to understand these feelings and heal. The photographs are accompanied by a QR code of an audio piece that tells the stories of these women; stories of daily insecurity, stories of acts that we are forced to endure and that are ignored and normalised. By identifying the artist with the subject, I wanted to include the views of a group of individuals that is so large yet still so discriminated. The pictures are placed significantly below the average height, forcing the viewer to crouch, assuming a pose that is unnatural and uncomfortable. Even though it cannot be compared, it represents the level of discomfort that us women feel in these moments of fear.
The social constructions of gender violence that don’t allow us to dress how we want, to walk at the pace we love, to get lost in our thoughts at the end of a long day instead of being anxious and alert; these social constructions need to end. We don’t accept this unwanted intrusion of men in our safety, our privacy, our confidence, our intimacy. What we need is a cultural and political change towards women and behaviours against women’s rights.
a collaborative photo project developed by Laura Gaggero with the help of Laura Dester
A sincere thanks to:
Marta, Yineth, Oana, Naomi, Laura, Elena, Jess, Nina, Eva, Valentina, Michelle, Andy, Maria, Giorgia, Elena, Marina, Elena, Gioze, Julia, Chiara, Anais, Vittoria, Alice, Manu, Erika, Elena, Stella, Camil- le, Elena, Akire, Gin, Francesca, Mary, Anna, Giovanna, Francesca, Silvia, Laura, Alex, Hannah, Sarah, Nerea, Izabella, Yde, Silvia, Candice, Suze, Anna Lina, Celina and Liz.
Voice: Naomi Delorme
Marta, Yineth, Oana, Naomi, Laura, Elena, Jess, Nina, Eva, Valentina, Michelle, Andy, Maria, Giorgia, Elena, Marina, Elena, Gioze, Julia, Chiara, Anais, Vittoria, Alice, Manu, Erika, Elena, Stella, Camil- le, Elena, Akire, Gin, Francesca, Mary, Anna, Giovanna, Francesca, Silvia, Laura, Alex, Hannah, Sarah, Nerea, Izabella, Yde, Silvia, Candice, Suze, Anna Lina, Celina and Liz.
Voice: Naomi Delorme