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SaveArtSpace has partnered with Take Heart You Are Not Alone and curator David F. Martin to assemble a visual framework that will draw awareness to the issue of domestic violence. Our goal is to use artwork to capture the attention of the public in order to provide them with contact information for much needed community resources available to victims and survivors.

Take Heart You Are Not Alone is seeking artists to create artwork that communicates the issues faced by victims and survivors of domestic violence. Artwork that can illustrate the impact domestic violence has on individuals, families, and communities including LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, Indigenous and immigrant communities. It is our desire that the artwork can also provide hope and healing to victims and survivors.

We feel that art can provide a means to explore community responses and showcase how people help address and hopefully prevent domestic violence in their families and neighborhoods. This critical support provides survivors a path to navigating their healing journeys.

Artists of all ages and talent levels are invited to submit their artwork between July 12 and August 23, 2021. We particularly encourage and welcome submissions from artists who are themselves victims or survivors of domestic violence and/or are members of the LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, Indigenous and immigrant communities. This is your opportunity to have your artwork on ad space in the greater Seattle, WA area.

PLEASE NOTE: SaveArtSpace has graciously agreed to allow Take Heart You Are Not Alone to include a short message alongside the artwork selected for the billboards. The message will read something to the effect of “If you are a victim of Domestic Violence and need help call 1800.” The purpose of this message it to provide victims immediate information on how they can obtain help and resources in the community.

Curated by David F. Martin.

There is a $10 donation per image submission to participate, each donation is tax deductible and goes to producing the public art. Each artist is encouraged to submit up to 10 images. The selected artists will be announced after September 6 and will be exhibited on ad spaces in Seattle, WA, starting in October 4, 2021 for at least one month.

Curator:

David F. Martin is curator for Cascadia Art Museum in Edmonds, WA and is the leading authority on the art history of Washington State. A Seattle resident, Martin’s expertise has focused on women, Japanese Americans, gay & lesbian and other minorities who had established national and international reputations during the period 1880-1970. He is the author of numerous publications and contributes essays and catalogue entries for national and international publications on painting, printmaking and photography. He received an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Cornish College of the Arts in 2017.

His recent groundbreaking publication, The Lavender Palette: Gay Culture and the Art of Washington State is a landmark in the study of American art history.

From 1981 through 1986, David and his life partner Dominic Zambito lived in Phoenix, AZ. During this period, he was director of the Gay & Lesbian Hotline and he co-founded and became president of the first AIDS information hotline in the state, advocating for research and education from the very start of the pandemic.

In 1986, David & Dominic moved to Seattle and founded the Martin-Zambito Fine Art Gallery in 1989, pioneering the re-development of the Pike/Pine Corridor on Capitol Hill. David was a long-term volunteer with Lambert House, a community center serving LGBTQ youth.

Connect with David on Instagram at @cascadiaartmuseum.

Participating organizations:

Founded in 2015, SaveArtSpace is a non-profit organization that works to create an urban gallery experience, launching exhibitions that address intersectional themes and foster a progressive message of social change. By placing culture over commercialism, SaveArtSpace aims to empower artists from all walks of life and inspire a new generation of young creatives and activists.

Mission and Vision:

Through takeheartyouarenotalone.com we use the power of art to heal. We use the power of education to provide resources to those in need. We use the power to offer hope and inspiration to everyone affected by “The Shadow Pandemic”. We understand that during the pandemic gender based violence has intensified. We understand that during the pandemic you may not know where to turn. We understand that during the pandemic you may have lost hope. Take Heart You Are Not Alone.

Supported by Global Washington and Women of the World, Take Heart You Are Not Alone stands up for the end of violence against women

Global Washington: https://globalwa.org

Global Washington supports the global development community in Washington state that is working to create a healthier and more equitable world. We promote our members, bring them together to spark new ideas and partnerships, and build a network of leaders improving lives around the world.

Women of the World: https://globalwa.org/our-members/women-of-the-world/

The leadership group of Women of the World Seattle are female philanthropists who care deeply about global issues. This is a learning network and not a giving circle, with the intention of building community and leveraging the expertise and knowledge of the 100+ global non-profits who are also members of Global Washington.

The United Nations defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life” (General Assembly Resolution 48/104 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, 1993).

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that runs every year from November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day. It was started by activists at the inaugural Women’s Global Leadership Institute in 1991 and continues to be coordinated each year by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership. It is used as an organizing strategy by individuals and organizations around the world to call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.

Connect with Take Heart You Are Not Alone on Facebook at facebook.com/TakeHeartYoureNotAlone.

Additional Background on GBV:

COVID-19 has intensified domestic and gender-based violence globally. Across the world, 243 million women and girls aged 15-49 have been subjected to physical violence by an intimate partner in the previous 12 months.

With personal movement limited, including closures and shutdowns of borders, businesses, courts, schools, cultural events, public spaces, and non-essential services and home confinements it has become increasingly clear that these closures redirected resources by scaling down all services such as shelters and helplines reducing essential services for many at-risk populations experiencing gender-based violence. (United National General Assembly, 2020). Advocates expressed concern about a potential increase in intimate partner violence (IPV) and stay-at-home orders, intended to protect the public and prevent widespread infection, however left many GBV victims trapped with their abusers. Domestic-violence hotlines prepared for an increase in demand for services as states enforced these mandates, but many organizations experienced the opposite. In some regions, the number of calls dropped by more than 50%. Experts in the field knew that rates of IPV had not decreased, but rather that victims were unable to safely connect with services (Leonhardt, 2020).

This artwork is used to inform the impact of GBV on individuals, families, and communities. The purpose of this virtual and public art exhibit is to explore the community responses to gender-based violence and showcase how people help prevent or address GBV in their families, neighborhoods, and other networks and/or provide support to survivors navigating their healing journeys. Community responses include caring for others who have experienced GBV, mobilizing to raise awareness and prevent GBV.

https://www.saveartspace.org/gbv

Opportunity Website

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BillboardsGender Based ViolenceSaveArtSpaceSeattleTake Heart You Are Not ALoneVisual