Afraid/Not Afraid examines how women live with an ever-present threat of violence and the feeling of being unsafe in their world. In creating this work, we are confronting this underlying fear to call attention to and to create discussion and change around these issues.

This collaborative photo-based installation explores vulnerability and our relationship to it as women. Gender violence, sexual stereotypes, and the portrayal of women in the media and popular culture feed and perpetuate this fear in our society. Our work looks at how these forces shape the lives and behavior of women, often in subtle ways, that become ingrained and normalized as part of our worldview. The images reflect the relationship between being watched and objectified and how women present their identities to the world.

Our own experiences and concerns with safety and consent propelled us to create a body of work that looks at the emotional side of this subject. We are white cisgender women who grew up during the changing expectations created by the women’s liberation movement of the 70’s. Although our generation has seen rapidly expanding views on what it means to be female in America, there are still problems today. The “Me Too” movement shows us that unwanted sexual advances, sexual harassment, discrimination and assault are still issues that women face. We believe these gender- related experiences intersect with the boundaries of age, class and race. Our installation provides a place to consider one’s own relationship to objectification of women’s bodies, the male gaze and female empowerment.

In this installation, the viewer becomes the voyeur, peeping through an exterior window of a house before entering. Inside are close-up images of women going about their daily rituals; some are personal, private moments. Behind them are silhouette images of women in the roles that women take on in public, playing with the idea of interior and exterior personas. As one navigates the space an audio component alludes to victim blaming and self-questioning.