Paris, France
01.03.24-09.03.24
In beautiful Paris, in the midst of fashion week, we were invited to exhibit She’s Gone on the topic of violence against women at the initiative of the Israeli Embassy in Paris. The streets are crowded with men and women, for a moment it seems that the holiday of Purim has arrived.
In the Municipal hall, the installation begins, and clothes of a completely different kind are hung, ones that belonged to real women, who had lives, hopes and dreams, maybe one of them was to walk through these streets hand in hand with a lover and stand in a long line to buy a cheese cake with a secret recipe.
But they are gone.
We receive a package wrapped in brown paper, and inside clothes of local victims of gender based murder. A denim skirt of Salome, a 21-year-old girl with an Audrey Hepburn smile, a floral dress purchased on Ghylaine’s last vacation, and a black evening dress of Helen with delicate gray beads.
Their clothing is the evidence of the most difficult moment of all, when they were forced to say goodbye.
One man, who is very familiar here, tells us that for thirty years he did not talk about it, but the exhibition flooded him with difficult childhood memories, and now he is determined to start therapy and start a new page in his marriage.
This is the essence of the transitions that make up the mosaic of our lives in recent months.
From fright, to relief, from horror to cautious optimism, from a spectacular set of clothes for fashion week, to dead women’s dresses.
Is it a good time to present such an exhibition in France at this time? We have been asked many times.
Yes. Raising awareness of the phenomenon of domestic violence is always relevant, certainly in days when winds of war are blowing from all sides.
we were honored with the presence of the mayor of Paris, the president of WIZO France, and Sandrine Bouchait who spoke in memory of her sister. Many thanks to the Embassy of Israel and everyone who made this important event possible.
