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Sexual Assault:The Roadshow demonstrates the power of art to "talk back" to sexual assault

'Using art as a form of expression, gives sexual assault survivors, friends and supporters a feeling of empowerment.'

In 1986, Jane Doe was the last of five Toronto women raped by a man who became known as the "balcony rapist" . He was eventually caught and convicted. She went on to sue police for failing to warn women in her neighbourhood about the danger. It took 11 years, but she eventually won her case.  

On Tuesday night in North Bay, Jane Doe an author and  sexual assault activist, attended the opening of  'Sexual Assault: the Road Show' at the Big Medicine Studio on Couchie Memorial Drive. North Bay is the 13th stop for the provincial tour. Throughout the month, the pop-up participatory art gallery, housed in a retrofitted shipping container, will be set up at four locations around the city.

The container is an exhibition space, a meeting place, as well as a workshop space for artists, participants and community members to 'talk-back' to sexual violence.

Doe, as she calls herself, is the project director. She says it is critical that sexual assault survivors  be given as much information as possible, in order to understand what lies ahead in their journey.   

"It's about giving them adequate information so they can make good decisions. My opinion based on 30 years of activism and publishing and articles is that the legal system has failed. It does not work for women who have been sexually assaulted. It never did and it can not under its present construction," says Doe.  

"Art is a language that allows us to speak, allows us to listen to issues around sexual violence. We have to develop a language to begin to address it. Art allows us to do that. It allows us to talk in a certain way, to send messages, and it allows us to listen in a certain way. I think we have this understanding also, that women are not going to over come, but our nature is to overcome despite the violence that enters way too many lives. Joy, hope and creativity will transform us."

Megan Lozicki Paulin, artist in residence, will be conducting a series of workshops, one per location, where participants can create art based on their experiences and stories.   

"I'm seeing a lot of language around consent, and speaking back to the offenders. Using art allows you to work through things that maybe you're not ready to vocalize, maybe you're not ready to speak about with words. When you're creating art you don't necessarily need to know what it means, you're releasing something, and that's always the first step," explains Lozicki Paulin.

"I feel anyone can take part because we've all been affected by sexual assault in some way, whether it's a personal experience or one of a family friend or member. We also have the intergenerational experiences as well that we still need to heal from."

Amy Raymond, education coordinator for Amelia Rising Sexual Assault Centre of Nipissing, says the road show is about finding ways to talk about the experience of sexual assault.

 "How do we talk back to an experience if from where you stand, it's literally just a series of frightening images, if its a sound? We really invite folks to join us this month in using  art to explore those very questions," said Raymond.  

Using art as a form of expression, gives sexual assault survivors, friends and supporters a feeling of empowerment.  

The Roadshow will be at Big Medicine Studio on Couchie Memorial Drive from October 3-9, The North Bay Police Service from October 10-15, and Nipissing University October 16-22. The final stop is October 23-29 at North Bay City Hall.

All of the art work  will be included in the final stop at City Hall.

Times and locations are outlined on the Amelia Rising website www.ameliarising.ca and its facebook page.

The project website is  www.sexualassaultroadshow.org   

North Bay is one of 15 Ontario stops. The project began in  2016 and will wrap up with two more stops next year.