Art performances against violence towards women and children opens in Hanoi

“Orange-blended art – Reborn”, an art performance program within a two-week action plan organized by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), took place at Hoan Kiem Lake pedestrian street in downtown Hanoi on Sunday.

Elisa Fernandez Saenz, UN Women Representative in Vietnam, (C) in the art performance program held at Hoan Kiem Lake pedestrian street, Hanoi on Dec 4. Photo: UN Women Vietnam

People were fascinated by the immensely-impressive art performances of human statues and body paintings embedded with the message of an equal, safe, and violence-free life for women and children in Vietnam.

The event was an activity under the Orange the World Campaign, 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence lasting from November 25 to December 10, and the National Action Month for Gender Equality and Gender-based Violence Prevention and Response on November 15-December 15.

The performances overwhelmed viewers with a wide range of emotional nuances on the mental and physical damages among the survivors of violence and the process of healing and reborn when receiving empathy, sharing, and support from the community. Thereby, the program is expected to widely roll out the voice and the message of “Respect and protection of women and children.”

The performance program “Orange-blended art – Reborn”, delivered for the first time in Hanoi, consisted of two main parts: Break the silence and Reborn, presented by painters Tuan Viet and Binh Pro. Here, the artists displayed two opposing psychological fields: Negativity – illustrated by mixed and chaotic color shades, the images representing mental and physical pain, and Positivity – envisaged through bright, cheerful colors, representing the assuagement and healing of oneself, which was sharply depicted.

If in part 1, the artist performed the torment and innermost pain of the hurt characters, in part 2, the color streaks were gradually “alleviated” as a way of recreating and reviving through words of encouragement, hand joining to speak up and shared empathy from the community and society. The flowers of love of faith in life also gradually bloomed from therein.

Globally, one billion children per year are subject to violence in one form or another. The Vietnam SDG indicators on Children and Women Survey 2020-2021 indicated that more than 72% of children between the ages of 10 and 14 had experienced violent discipline. Among them, 39% of children suffered from emotional violence, physical abuse (47%), sexual abuse (20%), and negligence (29%). These scars would not only leave physical pain but also result in persistent mental obsessions for a lifetime.

According to the 2019 National Study on Violence against Women in Vietnam, 62.9% of women in Vietnam experienced one or more forms of physical, sexual, emotional, and economic violence, as well as controlling behaviors by their husbands or intimate partner in their lifetime.

In Vietnamese society, violence was often hidden, reflected by the fact that 90.4% of the women who experienced violence did not seek help from formal services or authorities, and half of them never told anyone about their experience of violence. In addition, the impacts of violence against women were estimated to be equivalent to 1.81% of Vietnam’s GDP in 2018.

Participants at the launch of action month against violence towards women and girls in Hanoi. Photo: Thuy Tien/The Hanoi Times