WCI Lucan are set to launch their very own “The Red Shoes” campaign to bring attention to the number of women’s lives in Ireland lost due to gender-based violence. The art installation will feature a total of 267 pairs of red shoes, to represent the number of women murdered in Ireland from 1996-present.
This impactful initiative seeks to raise awareness on the alarming rates of gender-based violence in Ireland, specifically highlighting the tragic loss of 267+ women to femicide since 1996.
The alarming statistics, which have been tracked by Feminicide Watch an initiative launched by Women’s Aid Ireland, revealed that 87% of the women murdered in Ireland were killed by men they knew, with half of these women losing their lives at the hands of a current or former partner.
As a call to action, WCI Lucan, alongside WCI Projects throughout Ireland, asked women in their local communities to help with the installation, as women across the nation painted their shoes red to symbolise the 267 women in Ireland who have lost their lives to gender-based violence. “The Red Shoes" campaign is recognised internationally as a significant form of art activism, designed to inspire awareness and provoke action against femicide and violence toward women. People from all over are invited to attend the installation and to wear red, in remembrance of those whose lives were tragically taken.
Describing her work, visual artist and creator of “The Red Shoes” campaign, Elina Chauvet has stated, “The Red Shoes” is an installation of Public Art and Relational Art, a call to conscience to show solidarity in the face of a situation of violence against women in the world, a concern for the death of women, girls, and young people who continue to disappear and be murdered before the indifferent gaze of the authorities. This project has its beginnings in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. On August 22, 2009, as a march of 33 absent women, more and more steps of solidarity were added to their walk that make visible the absence and the pain that this causes in our societies, currently, it is a great march of solidarity to women with presence in various countries in America and Europe (Mexico, Argentina, Italy, Spain, Norway, United Kingdom, Sweden, Chile, Ecuador, United States, Canada, Brazil, Paraguay, France, Africa among others). “The Red Shoes” is a collective memory, an evocation, a void, a silent march, it is a longing, the return home of our loved ones.”
WCI Lucan Coordinator, Rita Harte, said of the launch, “As a group of women working in the area, we felt a need to do something to address gender-based violence and the importance of standing together during these critical times.”
In a time that is critical to preserving the rights of women, we must continue to make a stand against gender-based violence. The powerful installation can be viewed in the South Dublin County Council Plaza on Sunday the 8th of December, from 12pm until 4pm.
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