Enduring Women: Veils of Secrecy Working title for a collaborative visual arts project about the persistence violence

One morning sitting across the table from his wife, Gerald Pedros was reading the morningpaper and eating his breakfast in just the same way most of us do. He ate while readingabout a woman whose bloody and battered body had just been found in her apartment. Hiswife asked “How can you read that and continue like it’s nothing.” That’s a good question hethought, and that question is the heart of the exhibition Enduring Women.

The Enduring Women project is a collaborative multi-media exhibit centered on Pedros’painted collages. These images juxtapose accounts of abuse towards women from localnewspaper clippings, with painted contours of women, and historic references to violence.Using acetate, paper, and miscellaneous materials, Pedros creates layers of images andnarrative that suggests both the archaeology of the subject as well as the “veil of secrecy” sooften used by both men and women in their attempts to normalize abuse.

The models who posed for these paintings are not professionals, and their personal storiesremain personal. Pedros paints them, aware that some of them may have been abused, andthat almost certainly all of them have at one time feared for their safety. Yet even fullyexposed their bodies are unrevealing.

Where the images elude the story they could tell, the textual element of Enduring Women isspecific. In response to a call for participants local women have offered their voices to raisethe veil on their “secret” stories. Their words will run around the exhibition walls like warpthreads, binding the fragments of painting and collage into a tapestry that tells the story ofwhat it is to Endure.

Performance elements are growing into the project, adding to the layering theme. It is anobvious medium to seduce the viewer deeper into an exhibit which is designed to pull you indeeply before whispering in your ear “Why do you tolerate violence against mothers anddaughters?”

Despite this sensorial bulldog approach, the elements of the show are not confrontational.This show isn’t about anger, and it isn’t about answers. It’s about picking at the scab thatcovers the issue of abuse. It’s about making visible what we all know happens behind someclosed doors, and asking why most people prefer not to know which doors.

Fifty-one percent of all Canadianwomen have experienced at leastone incident of sexual or physicalviolence. (Statistics Canada 1993)

Sixty percent of Canadian college-aged males report that they wouldcommit sexual assault if they werecertain that they would not becaught. (Ontario Women’sDirectorate 1995, 2)

According to Statistics Canada,only 6% of sexual assaults arereported to the police. (OntarioWomen’s Directorate 1995, 1)

Enduring Women: Veils of Secrecy Working title for a collaborative visual arts project about the persistence of violence

The theme of Women Abuse belongs both to men and to women as a constant in our gender politics,and for a staggering many, as a way of life. To acknowledge and reflect this prevalence not only is thenucleus of the show collective, but it is also designed so that each host gallery may add to the projectwith work from local artists, work from its’ collection, or by incorporating audio or performance elementsetc. With strong Curatorial input and initiatives each exhibition can be more intimate with its communityand each community will have not only a stake in the show, but also in the awareness of its’ theme.

We are looking for exhibition dates in 2005 and beyond.

Enduring Women exhibition schedule:

St. Thomas Elgin Art Gallery: late 2004/ early 2005Woodstock Public Art Gallery: 2006 (Probably in Sept. to enable programming in co-operation withthe city wide “Take Back the Night” walk)

Contact: Gerald Pedros Contact: Sylvia Curtis-Norcross

(519) 631 8337 (519) 673 1524

6 Palm St.St. Thomas, Ont.CanadaN5 R 1Y3gpendros@mnsi.net

1-9 Horn St.London, Ont.CanadaN6C 3K3sylivacurtisnorcross@yahoo.ca

To view Pedros’ oeuvre and international exhibitions with the Raza group, visit: www.geraldpedros.comand www.larazagroup.com

Gerald PedrosMFA 1983 Concordia University

6 Palm StSt.Thomas On.

CanadaN5R 1Y3

(519) 631.8337gpedros@mnsi.net

BORN:

Montreal, Quebec 1951Has worked as an Artist in Geneva, Switzerland, Mexico City, & Banff, AlbertaCurrently lives in St. Thomas, Ontario

STUDIED:

Dawson College, Montreal, 1972-74Concordia University, Montreal, 1974-77 (BFA)Concordia University, Montreal, 1980-83 (MFA)

STUDIOS:

Banff Centre Leighton Artists Colony, Banff, Alberta (1993)La Sociedad mexicana de Artes Plasticas 9S.O.M.A.R.T.) Mexico City, Mexico (1987)Le Centre Genevois de Gravure Contemporaine, Geneva, Switzerland (1978)Toronto, OntarioMontreal, Quebec AWARDS:

Ontario Arts Council (1997,1995,1992,1989, 2001)Jewish Congress of Canada first prize “Impressions of the Holocaust” (1979)Canada Council (1979)Greenshield Foundation Graduate Assistantship (1976.1977)

SELECTED CANADIAN EXHIBITIONS:

2003- Thielsen Galleries Inc., The Honduras Medical Aid Project, London Ontario2001 - Thielsen Galleries Inc., London, Ontario2000 - Roberts Gallery Limited, Toronto Ontairo1999 - Jean-Claude Bergeron Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario1997 - Thielsen Galleries Inc., London Ontario1997 - Blyth Festival Art Gallery, Blyth, Ontario1997 - Wallace Galleries Ltd., Calgary, Alberta1996 - Elgin - St.Thomas Art Gallery, St.Thomas, Ontario

1996 - Thielsen Galleries Inc., London,Ontario1995 - Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa, Ontario1995 - Centre Interculturel Strathearn, Montreal, Quebec1994 - Thielsen Galleries Inc., London, Ontario1993 - Cenre of Contemporary Art, St. Thomas, Ontario1992 - Temiskaming Art Gallery, Temiskaming, Ontario1991 - Elgin - St.Thomas Art Gallery, St.Thomas, Ontario1989 - Galerrie Samuel Lallouz, Montreal, Quebec1985 - Centre Saidye Bronfman, Montreal, Quebec

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS

1994 - Swords into Plowshare Peace Museum, Detroit, Michigan1991 - Galeria Praxis, Mexico D.F.1991 - Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico1991 - Kilkenny Arts Festival, Kilkenny, Ireland1991 - Guinness Hop Store Gallery, Dublin, Ireland1990 - Ernst Brant Galerie, Cologne, Germany1987 - Sociedad mexicana des Arts Plasticas, Mexico City1978 - Centre Genevois de Gravure Contemporaine, Geneva1978 - Galerei Paralelle, Geneva, Switzerland

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:

- Museo Nacional de la Estampa, Mexico City - Consejo Nacional Para La, Mexico City - Musee d'Estampes Geneva, Switzerland - Centre de Gravure, Geneva, Switzerland - S.O.M.A.R.T., Mexico City - Guinness Brewery, Dublin, Ireland- Bibliotheque Gabrielle Roy, Quebec City - Consulate General of Morocco, MontrealConsulate General of Morocco, Montreal- Elgin-St. Thomas Art Gallery, St. Thomas- Teleglobe Canada, London, Ontario- Woodstock Art Gallery, Woodstock- London Life of Canada, London, Ontario- Concordia University, Montreal- St. Joseph's Hospital, London, Ontario - St. Thomas - Elgin General Hospital, London, Ontario- University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario- Canadian Art Bank - Air Canada Corporation- Museum London, London Ontario

Sylvia Curtis-NorcrossHnrs. B.A. in Visual Arts, UWO, 1990

29 Becher St. London, Ontario N6C 1A4(519) 673.1524

sylviacurtisnorcross@yahoo.ca

EXHIBITIONS

2002- 401 connections, Gallery 401, Toronto collaborative text/sound piece2002- Con/quest, group show, Access Artist Run Centre, Vancouver B.C.2000- Unvarnished Truths and Boldface Lies, group show at the Sifton Gallery, London1999- Grid Lock, Forest City Gallery, London1998- Conversations, group show at the Sifton Gallery, London1997- Make Your Own Money Event, CARO Group Exhibition, Toronto1996- Gibson Gallery Juried Miniature Show, group, London1995- Gibson Gallery Juried Miniature Show, London1990- Hillary Gallery Membership Show, UWO London

PUBLIC PROGRAMMING

1999- Galleries@theGalleria- Education Programming1990- Museum London- animation for Over Land Sea and Air1990- London International Children’s Festival, art activity pavilion1988- London Recreation Department, art instructor and program coordinator

(4 years)

PUBLICATIONS

2003- Lifestyle, profile of Lynette Richards2003- Lifestyle, profile of Mark Reutter2003- Lifestyle, profile of Jeff Willmore2002- Lifestyle, profile of Brian Malt2001- Lola, review of Har Prakash and Michael Czupryna at The Forest City

Gallery, London1999- Lola, review of Aidan Urquhart at Gallery 96, Stratford1999- The London Free Press, Volunteering a Lifestyle supported by the board of Education and my

mother-in-law1997/8- Staff writer for Scene, over 60 articles, 2 radio interviews1997- Arts Atlantic, review of Anne Meredith Barry Recent Work

GALLERY EXPERIENCE

1999- Galleries @ the Galleria, education programming1990/99- Co-curated yearly exhibitions at the London Public Library Galleries (Crouch & Masonville)1990- LRAHM, Co-curator and animator of “Over Land, Sea and Air”1990- LRAHM, Registrar for “London Sculpture in sight”1989- The Hillary Gallery, (University of Western Ontario’s student run gallery), Director