A ‘guerilla arts installation’ has been sparking debate and causing controversy in east Bristol, after a group of women placed as many as 40 red dresses in parks and churchyards in one corner of the city.
The ‘Raising the Red’ project has seen bright red dresses hung from trees and buildings in and around Fishponds Park and St Mary’s churchyard, dedicated to individuals killed and missing through violence.
The thought-provoking work has been created by a group called the Red Dress Crafters, and the aim is to raise awareness of the ‘persistent and escalating violence against women and girls worldwide’, but the subject matter, the poignant and perhaps eerie nature of the display and the very public location has sparked a debate in the community in Fishponds.
Church leaders at St Mary’s Church gave permission for the red dresses to be hung around, and local councillor Louis Martin (Lab, Frome Vale) came along to the launch of the project last week.
The group meets in the Crafted By Props cafe, and came up with the idea as a response to the UN End Violence Against Woman and Girls campaign. The idea is that the dresses remain there until December 11. Ros Martin, a local artist and member of the group, said: “Raising The Red’ is an outdoor guerilla installation of red clothing. Our craftivism speaks to the violence perpetuated in women and girls lives and on their bodies.
“Decorating a dress or article of clothing is to remember a missing woman or girl killed or missing. Once the woman or girl has gone, she is gone. Our craftivism is to reclaim, mourn, honour her and bring awareness to global gender-based violence. Each garment is raised for a named individual, a women or girl.
“Each girl or woman represents many, many others at home and throughout the world. We honour of the bodies and lives of all women and girls, killed and missing through violence, past and present, far and wide in international sisterly solidarity,” she added.
The dresses are accompanied by signs explaining the purpose, and they have been turning heads and prompting debate in Fishponds for the past few days.
One anonymous post on a local community Facebook prompted dozens of comments, with some backing the project, and others concerned it was raising unsuitable, or uncomfortable questions for their children.
“I am fully supportive of the cause however I have children who are already very anxious and I now can’t take them to the park, or drive past on the way to school, because the wording is very upsetting and confusing for them,” the anonymous Facebook post said. “Specifically ‘she wasn’t asking for it’ and the poster that talks about how many women are killed every day in the UK. I really don’t think it’s the right place for it. Having to explain r**e to two autistic kids is not fun,” they added.