Information about the exhibition: : “The last mask"

Producer’s note

In most cultures masks are highly symbolic, cultural and metaphorical, exaggerating features or hiding emotions, warding off spirits or used in theatre and festivals. So about 6 months ago when I approached CSAGA to see if they wanted to do an art photography project with mask making with the women in their gender based violence support clubs they immediately saw the rich possibilities that working with masks and metaphor might bring to a wider audience in Vietnamese society.

In a market driven world where the ad agencies have taken over the messaging about gender based violence - we’ve all seen the posters of the bruised woman that in my opinion do more to shock than change anything – we wanted to do something that spoke with an authentic voice and mirrored the individual experiences of the women as well as represent them as a group united against domestic violence. Like the oyster that makes the pearl from grit in its shell, these courageous women have converted their violent experiences into an artistic expression that is multi-layered, complex, moving, sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, inspiring and thought provoking. There’s not one message – there are many.

I think it’s important that exhibitions like this find their way into mainstream art venues in cities and towns across Vietnam sitting shoulder to shoulder with mainstream art. We shouldn’t consign social art to the libraries or the foyers of development organisations but instead we should be seeking wider more representative audiences for the issues being explored. In this project we’ve striven to help these women find their voice through the process of making their masks and at the same given them the choice of anonymity or not by its design. The fact that most chose to show their faces is, I believe, an indicator of how much progress organisations like CSAGA and many others are making to change society’s mores and behaviour around gender based violence. No longer silent, suffering in silence, no longer invisible, all these women, face showing or not have decided to be the change they want to see in society and how it perceives them.

This was a fairly quick project made with a group of highly committed, creative people from four different countries, 24 amazing Vietnamese women who have experienced often extreme gender violence and a very small budget. We hope it shows what you can achieve if you listen, play, laugh, cry and bring people together in a space where they feel safe to reveal what’s really important to them.