Felicia Konrad
Registrar Intern

On Tuesday, February 16, students, professors, and community members gathered at the David Owsley Art Museum to hear Dr. Marina Galvani, economist, cultural manager, and World Bank Art Curator, speak on the new exhibit 1 in 3: What Does it Take for You to be Outraged. Dr. Galvani spoke on the challenges of gathering artwork from across the world, which discusses a topic that elicits strong emotions: violence against women. The exhibition aims to open discussions about the economic and emotional impact this subject has on the world.

The focus of the talk was on the difficulties of procuring the artwork for the exhibition. Many of the artists whose works appear in the 1 in 3 exhibit are from non-western countries. Galvani expressed, “Many artists risk their own lives to speak up.” The potential danger for women making and displaying artwork, which speaks out against gender- based violence may be a threat to their safety.

 

Censorship was another large factor that impacted the creation of the exhibit. The World Bank is an organization that has representation from many world governments. Politicians and officials are sensitive to how their country is portrayed, and voiced concerns over the artwork from their respective countries. Some individuals stated that she could not portray his/her country in such a poor manner. Galvani explained, “If you want to make an impact, build political support.” To get the exhibition started, Galvani first had to gain support from the government representatives of the countries from which she had artwork. This was one of the biggest challenges to the exhibit.

The exhibition has artwork from places all over the world including: Egypt, the United

Kingdom, Namibia, Afghanistan, Russia, Germany, and Yemen. The 1 in 3 exhibition is much larger than the works of art that are currently on display at the David Owsley Museum of Art. The museum has a third of the entire exhibit. According to Galvani, it is split to allow the exhibition to be shown in three locations at once. Each time the exhibit is sent to a new location, it is redesigned to fit the location. For example, western works of art are sent to nonwestern countries, and vice versa, to show that violence against women is not just a local problem, but it is also a world problem.

 

The goals of the exhibit, according to Galvani, were to prompt future leaders to think about gender-based violence when making decisions, and to increase the intolerance for violence against women in the younger generations.

 

“We believe in using art as a way of raising awareness about topics that are relevant for development, giving a voice to different partner societies and trying to speak to the emotional tolerance of people,” said Marina Galvani.