Local artist helps survivors share their stories in anti-domestic violence exhibit

Marta Pérez-García has seen many of her friends suffer from domestic violence. In many of those cases she didn’t realize they were suffering until it was too late.

“I am from Puerto Rico, and there is a big problem with domestic violence there,”  Pérez-García said. “I realized I couldn’t stay only doing my view of what I saw — I needed to involve the community.”

Pérez-García — recipient of a Public Art Building Communities grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities — gave a talk Aug. 23 at the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Library to share a sneak peek of her upcoming exhibit and to encourage others to donate “objects of memory” for her artwork. These are any items that represent a survivor’s experience: photographs, books, dolls, poems, letters, etc. Her project — “I’m Gonna Get You … Body, Woman, Rupture (Si te cojo … cuerpo, mujer, rotura)” — is meant to spread awareness of issues associated with domestic violence and those it affects.

“We need to see what people who go through domestic violence feel — how these people think,” Pérez-García said.

Pérez-García also introduced a novel element to her project: dolls. Partnering with the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence led her to begin holding sewing workshops with survivors.

“Marta really did her due diligence with that [research] before she even began making the dolls,” said Karma Cottman, executive director for the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “She took a 40-hour training to understand how domestic violence manifests, the trauma survivors experience, because this wasn’t just for art — she wanted to become an advocate.”  

Pérez-García spent time with the coalition’s directors formulating her ideas into actions. She wanted to give survivors a way to express “not only their pain, but also their triumphs.”

The collection of dolls, titled “Bodies’ Histories” or “Cuerpos Historias,” represents the domestic-violence survivors who created them.

“Going into this project, I don’t think we understood the incredible impact this project would have on survivors,” Cottman said. “They got to tell their stories through something without having to sit and talk.”

Pérez-García began working with survivors to make the dolls last fall, and it has become an ongoing project. She said she grew up surrounded by family members who sewed, but never picked up the skill herself. But working with the survivors has taught her about much more than sewing.

“I never ask them to share their stories, but once we start making the dolls, they just open up,” Pérez-García said.

She gives the women free rein with the dolls — with one exception: They must make their doll with a spine. She feels that sewing a spine onto the dolls encourages the women to feel courageous. She asks them, “What do you want people to see?” Some women have created elaborate hairstyles, intricate dresses and other garnishments on their dolls. Some women began sharing their stories by sewing written notes into the backs of their dolls.

“They really need to be able to take possession of their bodies again,”  Pérez-García said. “We forget that the only way to deal with these problems is to break the silence.”

An exhibit featuring the artwork created through Pérez-García’s project will open on Friday, Oct. 5, and continue throughout the month at the Frank D. Reeves Center of Municipal Affairs at 14th and U streets NW.

The collection of dolls and the objects of memory won’t be the only objects with symbolic importance in the exhibit space: The room will feature the artist’s visual representation of the pain and fear that arise from incidents of domestic violence. Pérez-García said she wants people to look at her art and “not only see women, but children, too.”

Pérez-García hopes her project brings more awareness to domestic violence.

“These women are not just survivors,”  Pérez-García said. “They are moms, sisters, children, teachers. They are all of us.”