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Sexual violence is a crime. It shatters trust, breaks down defences, crashes into the course of a life, and robs it of meaning. It destroys childhood. It kills. The killers – fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, brothers, family friends, and persons in positions of trust in institutions – mostly live (or lived) on, undetected.
IN MEMORIAM
Tatjana | Hildegard | Christina | Elke | Kay | Rebecca | Lotta | Floh | Kiran | Tara | Bob and Co
Eleven WomenLesbiansGirls* who didn’t survive
work in progress since 1997 | 11 light boxes | each H 21 x W 30 x D 14.5 cm
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Sexual violence is a crime. It shatters trust, breaks down defences, crashes into the course of a life, and robs it of meaning. It destroys childhood. It kills. The killers – fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, brothers, family friends, and persons in positions of trust in institutions – mostly live (or lived) on, undetected.
Floh and Rebecca got no justice at all from the criminal justice system. Both of them pressed charges because they believed that other girls* in the family were at risk.
The light installation currently comprising eleven light boxes shines for the many lesbians* and other women* and girls* as well as for the boys* and men* who were driven to their deaths by sexual violence, even if this link is not always apparent.
The light boxes represent the many children, young people and adults who did not survive their abuse, whose lives were taken, who were either physically or psychologically unable to continue living with the consequences both of sexual violence and the ignorance of their families and society in general.
The light boxes are tagged with the name, the cause of death, and the dates of the birth and death of each person. They create a space for, and give expression to, the act of remembrance. By keeping such life stories in the public eye, they constantly confront us with how dire the consequences of societal and familial silence can be.
In Memoriam
Tatjana, Hildegard and Christina are three women whom I knew personally. I started with these three light boxes in 1997, seven more have been added since then: Frauke Mahr dedicated one to her friend Elke, Lobby für Mädchen e.V. (counselling centre and refuge for girls) in Cologne dedicated one to Rebecca, and the Mädchenhaus Bremen e.V. (counselling centre and refuge for girls) in Bremen, one to Kay. A light box dedicated by Barbara Heitzer and Andreas Promitzer commemorates the murder of their daughter Lotta Heitzer. Floh is commemorated by a light box dedicated in 2010 by her lesbian partner Johanna D. and their child Milo, as well as by her mother Tina Reuther, her mother’s life partner Isabelle Feix, and her friend Anja S. Tara is kept present in our thoughts thanks to a sister, and Kiran, as of 2017, thanks to Christine Raupp together with Aline Schönleber and her children Marc and Lara.
More information on each person can be found under the links “IMMER NOCH –ERINNERN”.
Anyone wishing to commemorate a person who did not survive the sexual violence inflicted on them in their childhood or youth may contact me about dedicating a light box and so help instil remembrance.
