What We Refuse to Carry Quietly

Women in Australia continue to be hurt, belittled, silenced and killed, even as the nation insists it is “having conversations.” After decades of policy work, frontline expertise and data, we remain at a crossroads — the distance between public rhetoric and lived experience is no longer tolerable.

Silence is the Violence is a year‑long program driven by rage as resistance to fatigue. It is grounded in lived experience, ongoing trauma, and the moral imagination of those who refuse denial and silencing. Here, artistic practice becomes civic intervention — a place for truth‑telling, embodiment and collective witnessing beyond institutional caution.

Led by Artistic Director Michelle St Anne, the program brings together a curated group of artists whose experiences, histories and bodies sit within the female form. Together, they examine how systems of violence operate, how trauma permeates the everyday, and how denial becomes culturally normalised.

The Program

• Sixteen artists each create a 16‑minute seed work, spanning performance, sound, movement, installation and interdisciplinary practice.
• A 16‑day public program at 21 Shepherd Street, Marrickville, presented as part of the global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender‑Based Violence. It includes:
  • Cyclical presentations of the 16 works
  • Talks and conversations with artists, advocates and community
  • Sound‑making sessions as collective release
  • Film screenings expanding the thematic frame

This program activates a fatigued corner of the Inner West, creating multiple touchpoints for discussion and stretching the moral imagination.

Beyond the 16 Days

The program will be documented and analysed, generating:

• A public record of artistic and community engagement
• Insights into the lived experience of gendered violence
• A foundation for 2027 commissions, enabling selected seed works to grow into major new projects

This is not symbolic. It is a sustained, multi‑year intervention.

Silence is the Violence asserts that artistic labour is not decorative — it is critical civic infrastructure. Through embodied practice and collective witnessing, the program creates a space where communities can confront the realities of gendered violence and imagine alternatives.

We believe art that tells the truth can change how people hold their own suffering.