Jacarandas2020
In 2020, more than 80,000 women joined the International Women’s Day March in Mexico City, not to celebrate, but to demand justice and change. According to official statistics, in Mexico a woman is raped every 18 seconds, a woman is attacked every minute, and around ten women are murdered every hour. Despite this, 99% of reports of sexual violence are never investigated.
This video performance is a short project created in response to the alarming rise in gender-based violence in Mexico. It was inspired by jacaranda flowers and photographs of the Women’s Day March.The piece features a simple drip system that releases one drop of jacaranda pigment every second, creating a stain on paper. Over time, the stain grows larger and more visible. The structure and drip system were made entirely from objects I had on hand during the pandemic lockdown, and the pigment was extracted from jacaranda flowers that had fallen during the first half of March.
The performance symbolises the urgency of responding swiftly to gender violence and was streamed online.