Today, when the whole world is shivering in panic for the attacks of terrorists, I would like to mention the international anti-violence initiatives, taking place just before the November, 25, designated by The United Nations General Assembly as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
Personally I just have had an interview with the Channel 6, explaining my art initiative “Ladies of the world against violence” at Firca Art Gallery in Ankara and the importance of raising awareness and funds for fighting for a better future of women and children of all the countries of the world.
Today, when the reality is becoming more and more illustratively similar to the images of my portraits, where the shame, sorrow, fear, grief and despair have forced women to close their faces because of their deep psychological drama.
Enough to mention that a 27-year-old artist was shot to death yesterday while painting a community mural in West Oakland—about stopping violence. Where are we going? What would be next? “The silence of the lambs” is not a scenario that I would accept for my future. I would always resist against gender discrimination and violence against women or any other civil person…
What we can do to change our future begins with the small steps such as art exhibitions in order to bring out the subjectivity of our daily lives that sometimes is also full of pain and suffering.
Today I want to share my interview with an artist of photography, Sonja Pev, who has opened her exhibition on November, 21.
D.A.Stauer: Sonja, tell me a bit of your biography. How did you come to be a good photographer?
Sonja Pev: Anyone who knows me for my photos, knows me as Sonja Pev (PEV is the last name of my mother), actually my identity card says Sonja Caccamo. Telling about myself it is not easy. I am Italian- Slovenian, 39 years old and have two wonderful children. My adventure behind the camera came just as a chance, soon becoming my passion, and then declined into work. During this journey I had to confront myself, in a dialectic way between the ego of what I always am and the new that slowly grew, along with the desire to search in capturing fragments of personality through the lens. Pain and happiness, sadness and enthusiasm, despair and hope are some of the many moods of the human condition. Till now I have tried to represent it with delicate discretion in all my shots, to transmit the essence more than appearance. Each frame is a paragraph that goes almost to compose a story, a fairy tale, a new and consciousness of being able to look through the still images.
D.A.Stauer: Sonja, what do you think of our society today? There are people who think we are in a crisis of the soul? Do you agree?
Sonja Pev: Today we live in a world of superficiality, where the “show off” has more importance than actual “being”. I think if you get to love and understand your land, it is already a great achievement. Love for the whole world is a utopia, given the recent results. It would be enough for me to wake up tomorrow and find the world a little better than today.
D.A.Stauer: Sonia, please tell me how you arrived to the realization of your anti-violence project?
Sonja Pev: What happened is that once a dinner with friends, full of chatting and laughing, suddenly had become a ‘safe’ place to open into a confidences of a far more serious matter. And ‘so then I learned of the horrors experienced by Cristina, one of us, a young girl who told us of violence she had suffered from her ex- boyfriend. The first time one evening, returning home. As unfortunately it happens often to become the “excuse” for him, it was a silly misunderstanding. In no time to react, Cristina found herself on the floor under a hail of kicks that have broken her ribs, bruised her body and left her face ravaged by the hematoma. Luckily the physical signs are healed, but the scars are in the inner luggage of soul where they will live forever. Her phrase hit me “I was walking with my head down because I was afraid of his violent reactions.” Fear is a trap for many of us and a small first step is to be able to look at it and talk about it. In whatever way and language you can do it. With Cristina we chose the lense for my camera. It was not easy to make these photographs, Cristina has relived again her tragic memories, but this time out of the trap and fearless. No to violence, whatever form it takes. Together we shall walk tall.
D.A.Stauer: As we are close to Christmas, I would like to ask you to tell me about your plans for the shows next year.
Sonja Pev: In the New Year, I will showcase the history of Mary Grace, a woman who has faced the difficult path of being sick with breast cancer. I will show her way through the images. But I cannot share them with you now as I am saving them for the exhibition.
D.A.Stauer: Thank you for the interview and I wish you all the best for the opening of your exhibition.
Diana Avgusta Stauer
