The 'Bastard Sisterz' Project
“This exhibition is dedicated
to all the girls and women around the world who are forced to suffer threats,
humiliation, oppression and violence on a daily basis.” - Henrik Sjöström
Swedish artist Henrik Sjöström’s
latest exhibition in Helsinki is titled The Bastard Sisterz. If
the name itself hasn’t stopped you dead in your tracks, the images will.
Powerful, haunting, accusing, and loud, each artwork refers to a specific event
in recent history.
“The chosen images are based
on a series of brutal events that have displayed a complete and total collapse
of the collective human consciousness and a monumental disrespect towards all
notions of femininity. Numerous daughters, sisters, and mothers would still be
alive today had it not been for the despicable and systematic persecution of
women and the fear of change and progress by the patriarch,” says Sjöström.
Henrik upturns some of the
darkest events in recent history, reminding us of the Boko Haram kidnapping 276
Nigerian girls right out of the school yard (Bring Back Our Girls), brutal rape
resulting in death of Jyoti Singh Pandey (India’s Daughter), genital mutilation
still practiced across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East (Muliebrous
Desctruction), and more.
“There has been so many
gruesome acts of violence aimed at women and girls in these past years, (or
rather for as long as I can remember), that I decided as a responsible artist
to address these issues and use the platform I have struggled for to generate a
discussion. True artists are, in my view, the only genuine reporters of the
world, and it is our duty to bring forth these issues of horror.
I have the utmost respect for
all the girls and women in the world and they should all be praised not only
for their achievements, but also because of the reality that we men would not
be here if it wasn’t for women. They should have the same rights, receive the
same education, pay and respect that men take for granted. What I would like
for people to take away from the exhibition is the fact that we here in the
Western world tend to forget the horrible chain of events that takes place
outside our own comfort zone once it has been briefly broadcasted on the news
and as the manifesto explains, there is so much violence directed towards girls
and women around the world that simply should not exist.” - Henrik Sjöström
(AGORA GALLERY·THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017)
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