Photos by Angela Truong.
CACtTUS (Creative Arts Coalition to Transform Urban Space) in downtown’s East Village, held a new exhibition, Reclaiming Voices/Reclamando Voces, on Saturday with artwork focusing on survivors of sexual abuse.
Multidisciplinary artist Karla Camacho, who is a survivor herself, is known for her colorful pottery and paintings. She said this exhibit is an entirely new body of work and that the idea came from trying to tackle the issue from a cultural perspective. There’s a quote she heard growing up in Mexico that she believes is one of the many ways survivors are silenced.
“Dirty clothes are washed at home, which means you don’t go out and tell people about the violence that’s happening at home,” said Camacho.
Camacho worked individually with five other sexual assault survivors to create the porcelain sculptures, designed to resemble paper and clothing. She listened to their stories and also shared her own story with them. For some, it was the first time they had shared their experience openly.
Camacho said she wants survivors to understand that speaking about it can be the beginning of their healing journey.
“There’s so much victim blaming that we blame ourselves for the kind of violence enacted on us,” said Camacho. “It was really reaffirming to realize that we could write messages to reaffirm other survivors to say it wasn’t your fault.”
CACtTUS co-founder Mayra Serna said being a part of the installation and seeing Camacho’s growth as a ceramic artist has been inspiring.
“It’s not really about making art that is about selling when in fact the real idea of making art is to push a person’s intentions or motives and increase their curiosity,” said CACtTUS co-founder Jorge Mujica.
CACtTUS invites the community to join them at Flora y Tierra during the closing reception on April 28 from 3:00PM to 5:00PM for a circle of healing for sexual abuse survivors and then head back to CACtTUS from 5:00PM to 9:00PM, where Camacho plans to dissolve all the sculptures in a bucket of water.
For more information on Camacho’s artwork, visit her Instagram @art_dekarla.
CACtTUS is located at 326 Elm Avenue. Flora y Tierra is located at 812 East 7th Street.