Echoes of Silence

Echoes of Silence serves as both a monument and a call to action.  

It is a piece that responds to the 2024 report by the Human Science Research Council on GBV within South Africa and confronts the devastating reality of GBV with specific emphasis on sexual violence against women in South Africa. 

I have chosen steel based on its association with strength and resilience, as this perfectly highlights the fighting spirit of the women who continue to survive and exist regardless of the echoes of silence.  

Echoes of Silence carries the weight of 2,150,342 intentionally aggressive grinder marks. This number is based solely on reported cases of sexual violence against women in South Africa. Although they may appear random, these marks are deliberate gestures to acknowledge every woman who has been a victim.  

Visually referencing statistical graphs, the incomplete bases further acknowledge unreported cases.  As light interacts with the pieces, the resulting shadows intensify the statistics, highlighting the scale of gender-based violence in the country. The rigid grid-like installation is an oxymoron for the failing institutional structures that are meant to protect victims.

My intention with this installation is to break the silence around gender-based violence and encourage dialogue and action.   Every mark says, “You are seen, and you are heard.” This makes the piece a space where trauma is not hidden but given form, where collective scars are transformed into visible testimony.  

Gender-based violence does not discriminate; instead, it cuts across age, race, class, and culture. All women live in the shadow of this reality.  

It is not intended to speak for victims, but created by women for women, it aims to amplify their presence, voices and truths.