look before you cross (lizinterruptus lines walkways with bodybags)

the mission statement framing these 25 bodybags doesn’t need interpretation or intro — just know that the authors responsible for the words go by the name, luzinterruptus:

‘we, the women, with our rights being trampled upon, our freedoms questioned and our physical integrity always threatened, have inspired ‘look before you cross,’ an intervention where we have tried to visualize our dismay before the physical and mental violence exercised against us whose sole purpose is controlling our bodies, our minds and every single aspect of our lives. the scenarios of this violence are quite diverse. in our more or less ‘civilized’ milieu, we are fighting to achieve equality and respect, and to end domestic gender violence. however, the largest population of young women is concentrated in developing countries and have to cohabit with laws aimed at reducing their social role to reproduction, not to mention the countries at war or with displaced groups where women’s bodies are used or violated to carry out massive acts of revenge or humiliation.’

all images courtesy of melisa hernandez

to feel the full weight of their words, one may want to try reading the above constitution by the light of these glowing cropse-dolls. there, while pacing a seemingly-civil walkway, other women may see the visualization of their dismay, while men may find that their gender isn’t pacing along a path at all, but trampling upon the women that helped build it. 

the night was their dismay, so they made it their canvas. light — something that so many victims hide from out of humiliation — is their weapon. while these bodybags evoke gruesome thoughts in many of us, lizinterruptus reminds us that these thoughts are the reality for so many young women. the bodybags are each filled with an inflatable doll (25 in total). each doll’s mouth is seal. their hands: tied.

‘look before you cross’ may seem violent, but luzinterruptus caused no damage to the spaces or the people in them. the exhibition brings the damage of women everywhere to light. from this perspective, the peace had to be disturbed in front of the ministry of justice, and at parque del oeste, because the kind of peace that is found in darkness is closer to the peace you find in ignorance. this awareness is just the beginning. ’there is much work to be done,’ says lizinterruptus, ‘and as many ways to do it as there are people and circumstances.’