Logo

 

Banner Image:   Baptist-Times-banner-2000x370-
Template Mode:   Baptist Times
Icon
    Post     Tweet

Not yet out of the shadows 

 

The bringing together of 1990s art highlighting domestic abuse demonstrates the issues they raised have sadly not gone away. By the Revd Dr Clare McBeath


Clothesline700

I wonder how many of you will remember the Clothesline Project, strung as a washing line across the stage at Baptist Assembly in 1998, before it travelled on to tour churches and regional events from Jarrow to Somerset?
 
20 years on, the 50 brightly coloured T-shirts, designed by women survivors of domestic abuse, have made a dramatic reappearance, this time as part of an Art Exhibition at Luther King House, Manchester, called Out of the Shadows to mark 20 years since the end of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Decade in Solidarity with Women (1988 – 1998).
 
The T-shirts, with their graphic messages and illustrations, were created to increase awareness of the impact of violence against women and girls and to celebrate women’s strength and courage to overcome the past. They are hung side-by-side on the Clothesline, as though the survivors were standing there themselves, shoulder-to-shoulder, bearing witness to the violence that is still committed against women on a daily basis.
 
Other exhibits included the Manchester Mosaic, made up of 60 square panels depicting experiences of violence, made by over 200 women from churches and groups from across the North West and further afield. The Mosaic was produced in 1993 for a service at Manchester Cathedral entitled Out of the Shadows to mark the midpoint of the decade in solidarity.

ManchesterMosaic700

Also on display as part of the Art Exhibition was the Bosnian Christa, made by Margaret Argyle in 1993, in response to her reading of the rapes of women in Bosnia. Initially shocked by an image of the Christa, she came to feel that the image of a crucified woman was her response to the appalling atrocities reported in the media.
 
“The feelings about those rapes which were too deep to write about or speak about were somehow – I don’t know how – converted into a visible form, made into this image which speaks to me and to others about the nature of a God who knows the sufferings of women because she has suffered them herself”. (Margaret Argyle, Bosnian Christa in Cutting Edge, March 1995)
 
SueBarclayThe Out of the Shadows Art Exhibition was held at Luther King House in partnership with The Centre for Theology and Justice and was followed by a lecture View from the Mat: Theological Reflection on Gender Based Violence in Uganda by Baptist minister, Sue Barclay, who has recently and successfully completed her PhD.
 
On the 25th anniversary of the marking of the Manchester Mosaic and the 20th anniversary of the Clothesline Project, sadly the issues they raise have not gone away. In fact, they have recently come the fore again through the social media campaign #MeToo.
 
The Centre for Theology and Justice at Luther King House was proud to hold the Art Exhibition Out of the Shadows as part of its commitment to justice for all.

But just as the Out of the Shadows service 25 years ago at the cathedral sparked controversy, the recent Art Exhibition too has not been without contention, demonstrating that the issue of domestic abuse is not yet out of the shadows.

 

The Revd Dr Clare McBeath is co-principal of Northern Baptist College 

Baptist Times, 02/03/2018
    Post     Tweet
Sharing the Christian story with your local schools
A presentation that has seen hundreds of thousands of pupils learn more about the Christian faith at Christmas and Easter marks its 30th anniversary next year – and it is hoped even more churches and schools could be involved
‘It will help you encounter Jesus in new and deeper ways’
Mosaic Creative has announced the release of a new book and audiobook of biblical monologues for churches called Following the Son by Jackie Mouradian
Different types of small church
The Small Church Connexion team is testing out different categories of small church, from a new plant to one that is choosing to close. These are imprecise categories which need to be fleshed out, but can help us strengthen the resource we offer
My journey to becoming a national hockey umpire
Interview with Annette Golding, a Baptist church member who became a Level 3 hockey umpire in 2022
‘Enabling people to be deeply human in safety’
Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries equips the church to support mental health and wellbeing. Baptist minister Shaun Lambert spoke with its UK Director Corin Pilling
Is generosity the new evangelism?
A generous life has the power to change lives today, writes Wendy Pawsey, head of giving for the Evangelical Alliance, and author of Generous with a Capital G, part of the 2024 Big Church Read
     The Baptist Times 
    Posted: 11/09/2024
    Posted: 05/02/2024
    Posted: 16/12/2023
    Posted: 15/12/2023
    Posted: 06/12/2023
    Posted: 27/11/2023
    Posted: 01/11/2023