Ala kachuu (Bride kidnapping), Kyrgyzstan, 2019
| Artist/Maker |
Laia Abril is one of the most important female artists of her generation. Her research-based practice uses photography, text, video, and sound, and focuses on topics relating to gender rights and women’s healthcare. She is best known for her trilogy ‘A History of Misogyny’, a three-part exploration which interrogates some of the most important issues of our time: abortion access, rape culture and the stigma of hysteria and women’s mental health.
In her second chapter, On Rape, Abril explores the history of misogyny and the pervasion of rape in global society. Spanning 2000 years, Abril brings together historical archives, photographs, data, curated objects and testimonials to evidence sexual violence, the systemic control of women’s bodies and how institutional care has failed to protect or prosecute.
Collectively, the work seeks to represent the origins of gender-based violence, societal stereotypes and the failing structures of law and order. Utilising research from biblical times to the present day, Abril visualises the nuance of sexual violence globally: the culture of forced marriage, the stigma of virginity, privacy in the age of social media and rape as a weapon of war. Abril unites these representations with powerful individual narratives: a wedding dress from a kidnapped bride in Kyrgyzstan, a US military uniform, a South African sports jersey, and a nun’s habit from Argentina. Each item of survivor clothing signifies an individual story of rape. Each is accompanied by text evidencing which institution has failed to act, shifting and subverting the victim-blaming narrative and instead examining the complicity of law enforcement, healthcare services and religious groups.
Testimonials from some of the world’s most powerful people; policy makers, police enforcement, and members of faith groups, present a shockingly casual attitude towards sexual violence. Laia Abril looks to hold these institutions and their representatives accountable. In that sense she stands in the tradition of art activists such as Tracy Emin, Jenny Holzer, Suzanne Lacy and Kara Walker, who established the discussion around rape as a recurring subject of debate. Laia Abril's work, carefully researched, data-collected, curated and archived, is an invitation to rethink and question social norms. The installation of images and photographs foregrounds the institutions that have failed survivors and emphasises a system which continues to perpetuate rape culture.
In November 2022, the V&A hosted an exhibition of 'On Rape and Institutional Failure' at the Copeland Gallery, Peckham, London, as part of the Parasol Foundation Women in Photography project. Following the exhibition's success, a number of works were accessioned into the V&A's permanent collection of Photography.
In her second chapter, On Rape, Abril explores the history of misogyny and the pervasion of rape in global society. Spanning 2000 years, Abril brings together historical archives, photographs, data, curated objects and testimonials to evidence sexual violence, the systemic control of women’s bodies and how institutional care has failed to protect or prosecute.
Collectively, the work seeks to represent the origins of gender-based violence, societal stereotypes and the failing structures of law and order. Utilising research from biblical times to the present day, Abril visualises the nuance of sexual violence globally: the culture of forced marriage, the stigma of virginity, privacy in the age of social media and rape as a weapon of war. Abril unites these representations with powerful individual narratives: a wedding dress from a kidnapped bride in Kyrgyzstan, a US military uniform, a South African sports jersey, and a nun’s habit from Argentina. Each item of survivor clothing signifies an individual story of rape. Each is accompanied by text evidencing which institution has failed to act, shifting and subverting the victim-blaming narrative and instead examining the complicity of law enforcement, healthcare services and religious groups.
Testimonials from some of the world’s most powerful people; policy makers, police enforcement, and members of faith groups, present a shockingly casual attitude towards sexual violence. Laia Abril looks to hold these institutions and their representatives accountable. In that sense she stands in the tradition of art activists such as Tracy Emin, Jenny Holzer, Suzanne Lacy and Kara Walker, who established the discussion around rape as a recurring subject of debate. Laia Abril's work, carefully researched, data-collected, curated and archived, is an invitation to rethink and question social norms. The installation of images and photographs foregrounds the institutions that have failed survivors and emphasises a system which continues to perpetuate rape culture.
In November 2022, the V&A hosted an exhibition of 'On Rape and Institutional Failure' at the Copeland Gallery, Peckham, London, as part of the Parasol Foundation Women in Photography project. Following the exhibition's success, a number of works were accessioned into the V&A's permanent collection of Photography.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Title | Ala kachuu (Bride kidnapping), Kyrgyzstan, 2019 |
| Materials and techniques | |
| Brief description | Testimony of Alina, Kyrgyzstan. From the series 'On Rape, and Institutional Failure' "I saw my husband for the first time on my wedding day. His friends drove me to him. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to handle it as I was furious with him, I loved another man and dreamed of becoming his wife. Instead I was forced to marry the man who had kidnapped me. At first, when I confronted him he was silent, then he apologised. My sister had also been taken in the past but had run away. My religious ceremony [nike] was organised very quickly and officially registered immediately so that I couldn’t withdraw from it. Before that, I was a 21 year old student in my fourth year at Arabaev University. I wanted to be a fashion designer. During the holidays I went to visit my family. I didn’t want to stay alone in the residency, fearing I might suffer the same fate as my sister; so I travelled on New Year’s Eve. I remember happily baking the day before, then I went to visit my sister and on the way home I was ravished. When my family arrived at the kidnapper’s home, my mother wanted to bring me back but my grandmother asked me not to disgrace my family, especially after my sister had run away and people in the village had talked about it for a long time. I began crying, but my grandmother begged me to stay there. So I did" |
| Physical description | A photograph of a wedding dress. |
| Credit line | Purchase funded by the Parasol Foundation Women in Photography Project |
| Summary | Laia Abril is one of the most important female artists of her generation. Her research-based practice uses photography, text, video, and sound, and focuses on topics relating to gender rights and women’s healthcare. She is best known for her trilogy ‘A History of Misogyny’, a three-part exploration which interrogates some of the most important issues of our time: abortion access, rape culture and the stigma of hysteria and women’s mental health. In her second chapter, On Rape, Abril explores the history of misogyny and the pervasion of rape in global society. Spanning 2000 years, Abril brings together historical archives, photographs, data, curated objects and testimonials to evidence sexual violence, the systemic control of women’s bodies and how institutional care has failed to protect or prosecute. Collectively, the work seeks to represent the origins of gender-based violence, societal stereotypes and the failing structures of law and order. Utilising research from biblical times to the present day, Abril visualises the nuance of sexual violence globally: the culture of forced marriage, the stigma of virginity, privacy in the age of social media and rape as a weapon of war. Abril unites these representations with powerful individual narratives: a wedding dress from a kidnapped bride in Kyrgyzstan, a US military uniform, a South African sports jersey, and a nun’s habit from Argentina. Each item of survivor clothing signifies an individual story of rape. Each is accompanied by text evidencing which institution has failed to act, shifting and subverting the victim-blaming narrative and instead examining the complicity of law enforcement, healthcare services and religious groups. Testimonials from some of the world’s most powerful people; policy makers, police enforcement, and members of faith groups, present a shockingly casual attitude towards sexual violence. Laia Abril looks to hold these institutions and their representatives accountable. In that sense she stands in the tradition of art activists such as Tracy Emin, Jenny Holzer, Suzanne Lacy and Kara Walker, who established the discussion around rape as a recurring subject of debate. Laia Abril's work, carefully researched, data-collected, curated and archived, is an invitation to rethink and question social norms. The installation of images and photographs foregrounds the institutions that have failed survivors and emphasises a system which continues to perpetuate rape culture. In November 2022, the V&A hosted an exhibition of 'On Rape and Institutional Failure' at the Copeland Gallery, Peckham, London, as part of the Parasol Foundation Women in Photography project. Following the exhibition's success, a number of works were accessioned into the V&A's permanent collection of Photography. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | PH.241-2023 |
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| Record created | November 30, 2022 |
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