Why was this project created?

In fall 2013 I started to gather stories. I went to parks, cafes, bars, bus stops and introduced my project to women. I asked them if they had experienced any kind of violence from men in Norway. The first reaction of most of them was “no”. However after some minutes talking they started to remember some stories from friends or relatives, and after more minutes they started to talk about their own stories. I told them that there were three ways to participate in the project: writing in a paper, having their story voice recorded, or in front of a camera. Only few accepted to participate in the project in one of these three formats. The rest did not want to have anything recorded, anything that can remind them of their story in the future, or they simply wanted to move on but wanted to share their story with me but not with other people because they thought that it could be useful for me as journalist.

Talking about violence against women is not an easy topic. Many people deny it, don’t see it, or justify it by blaming the victims. Many people think that gender violence happens in other countries “but not here. Here we have equality”. I heard that phrase in Finland, where some people thought that gender violence happens in the South: south of Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. I heard the same in Spain, where they thought it happens in the south: Africa, Latin-America and Muslim-Arabic countries. I heard the same in Peru, where some people thought that gender violence happens in the rural areas or in Africa o Muslim-Arabic countries.

I mentioned these three countries because I have lived there and two years ago I moved to Norway. Unfortunately I heard the same phrase here. With this project I want people to listen to the stories directly from women. Their faces are not important, their stories are. Norway is my home now and everybody wants to have a safe home. Let’s build it up together!