Stop 1

STOP 1: One in Five

Artists: Karike Ashworth
Time: 12am~2pm, Saturday 26th May

One in five Australian women have experienced violence by a current or a previous partner at some point in their lives[1]. To honour these silent victims I have installed multiple inflated disposable gloves tied to a domestic building brick along the perimeter of the "Goodwill" bridge. Each ‘hand’ embodies a female who uses the bridge during the hours of 12-2pm, and every fifth ‘hand’ is red. Ironically, and according to philosopher Immanuel Kant, the idea of a ‘good will’ is frequently used to describe a man’s character, such as ‘a good man’. In 2001 the construction of the bridge resulted in a budgetary blow-out and the use of $20.3 million in government funds to complete it. In the same year the government allocated only $13 million to preventing and responding to domestic violence[2]. My intention is that the work will highlight the misdirection of government funds and the disgrace of domestic violence.

1. Australia's CEO Challenge, Twilight Walk & Candle-Lighting Ceremony to remember, 2 May 2012.
2. According to the 2001/2002 Federal Budget


Event Report: 

Stop 1 was a HUGE success, I was absolutely blown away by the response the work received from the public. So many people engaged with the work we stopped counting because it would have easily been 500+ which is incredible. Even Anna Bligh had a look (although we just missed photographing her looking)! We (and my fantastic helpers) started installing at 8am and people stopped to ask us about the work immediately from 8am. Once the work was up people stopped in groups approximately every 30 seconds to read the signs and look at the work. Because the work was installed over 320m it gave people the opportunity to engage and contemplate the work while they walked. Everguide turned up at 12pm to do a video interview of me on the bridge with the work to discuss the concept behind Stop for Art and Stop 1! It was a really special moment because for the first time my expectations of how the event would go were well below what was actually realised!

(click on pictures to enlarge)