We Can! Arts Fest: Where art meets activism

PUBLISHED November 28th, 2013 12:00 am | UPDATED June 3rd, 2020 12:16 am

We are big fans of using arts and culture for a good cause over at City Nomads, and this December, We Can! Arts Fest is showing just how to do that. The one day festival organised under the umbrella of AWARE is taking one of the hardest hitting themes out there – violence against women – and using unique and imaginative methods and mediums including art, film, music, plays, poetry and more to break the silence of violence, and educate the general public about this taboo subject.

We speak to festival co-curator Nabilah Husna about the festival’s exciting lineup, and how they hope it will break the silence…

Can you tell us a little about how you married your advocacy for the cause with your creativity to put on We Can! Arts Fest?

We felt strongly that with this campaign, we wanted to show, rather than tell, everyone what our message was. It was important to us to focus on change, and the dynamism of art allows us to articulate that. You will find that many of the pieces, whether they are installations or theatre, are interactive. For example, we are using performance art – a piece called ‘Pretty Ugly’ where two artistes will stand in front of an audience, who will be given a range of make-up or beauty products which they will be allowed to use on the artistes. The artistes will stand there for 20 minutes while the audience proceed to ‘beautify’ one of them and render the other one ‘ugly’.

The arts are an incredible tool for communication and prevention. Can you tell us about some offbeat ways you’ll be using the arts to do just that?

We talked about ‘Pretty Ugly’ above which is quite provocative and offbeat as the artistes who are taking part are very vulnerable to the audience because the audience is allowed to touch and use products on them.

One of the highlights of the festival is our original forum theatre piece, entitled Just a Bad Day. Forum theatre is a highly interactive tool that invites the audience to step in and help the characters on stage make different choices so as to prevent the impending violence from happening and help them feel empowered to preventing real life situations.

‘Mirror, Mirror’, is an installation of mirrors and participants are encouraged to leave behind degrading, sexist comments that have been said to them on a mirror by writing on it with dry-erase markers. At the same time, they are asked to erase a remark that’s already on the mirror by someone else  as a symbolic act of solidarity in rejecting these ideas.

The underlying message of the festival is actually pretty hard hitting. What do you say to people who might think it is ‘not for them’?

We are very conscious that violence is a heavy issue and we’ve tried our best to ensure that the festival content is evocative and inspiring rather than disturbing or depressing. While we don’t shy away from exploring the pain and injustice in violence, we are mindful in all instances to focus on the possibility for change, rather than the bleakness of the issue. Overall, the festival takes an optimistic tone, encouraging people to reflect on small actions they can take in their own lives to prevent violence against women. We believe that a gender-equal, violence-free society is possible, and that’s what the festival is about.

What will festival goers get to take away from attending?

They will take away a deeper understanding of violence and their role in putting a stop to it. They will also take away empathy for victims, insight into gender power imbalances and the subtleties of everyday gender politics. They will be empowered with the language and tools to address violence or attitudes that condone violence when they see it. Most importantly, perhaps, they will take away a sense of community and the knowledge that there are others who are willing to speak up and who will support them in speaking up.

Tell us a bit about how you have involved survivors in the creation and execution of the festival?

Many women on the We Can! team are survivors of violence themselves. Our forum theatre piece, Just a Bad Day, was put together entirely by volunteers who had experienced, witnessed or even perpetrated violence in their own lives. They used their personal stories to create this piece, and it’s really inspiring to see how they have turned their experiences of oppression into tools of empowerment.

Survivors will also be speaking to participants in the event ‘Human Library: The Women You Don’t Hear’, where the public is invited to have a conversation with survivors and activists to better understand violence and the impact it has on individuals and communities.

We Can! Arts Fest is taking place on 8th December 2013, from 11am – 10pm at Aliwal Arts Centre. For more information and to buy tickets see here.