The starting point of the project was « violence against women » from physical to subtil psychological violence. The project is done in collaboration with Braseap-Cap Info asbl, a non-profit training center, and Barbiana asbl, a theater company. Braseap-Cap Info aims at developing and reintegrating people into society while giving an important role to artistic workshops. Barbiana uses theater, art and freedom of speech with the same purpose. The close relationship led to the “women's portraits” project. Several women coming from different horizons accepted to be photographed and filmed, giving an intimate vision of their living conditions, their stories, their everyday fights. All these photos and videos testimonies were brought into a wider picture, becoming the basis of reflection and work that included drawings, poetry, debates, music. The project is in constant evolution, it went out of the frame of the starting theme, It became an ode to all women and the constant fight for their rights in all aspects. The portraits of women’s back tend to symbolize the anonymity but it works also as a symbol of forgiveness, with regard to their past. It is, in my opinion, a way to say no to violence, and to propose metaphorically to turn one's back on it. Also, it is there to concretely picture the weight these women had to carry on their shoulders. That body that is a recorder… That body that remembers… I had to find a simple way… Almost anthropologic… Most of the time I search for something beyond the eye contact, a fissure somewhere, without being intrusive, without being too direct. I did not want to be too literal, the intention was more to propose a way between reality and imagination, proposing a space for reflection to any individual watching the photos…
