Over 100 painted red shoes were lined up Wednesday morning at the Boston Common to honor lives lost to gender-based violence.
Mexican artist Elina Chauvet has been taking this installation, “Zapatos Rojos” — or “Red Shoes” — across the world. Impassioned to do this work after losing her sister to domestic violence, Chauvet took it upon herself to explore the theme in countries like Norway, Spain, and Argentina after its debut in Mexico in 2009.
The Boston exhibit was organized by Lawyers for Civil Rights in collaboration with community partners to engage young people locally like Sociedad Latina, Chica Project, We Are ALX and many others. The groups helped collect and paint shoes while participating in workshops to learn about connecting survivors with legal protections and resources including restraining orders.
This installation comes shortly after Lawyers for Civil Rights unveiled the work of its inaugural artist-in-residence program earlier this month.
Mirian Albert, senior attorney at the organization, says LCR has incorporated art more into the work they’ve been doing because it helps draw attention to complicated issues. “Legal issues can be really abstract sometimes, but obviously they have real implications for people on the ground every day,” Albert said.
Angelica Rodriguez, program director of Roxbury-based Sociedad Latina, says the students at the program collected more than 100 shoes. As a program serving predominantly immigrant youth, Rodriguez says many feel their voices are not heard, but this blend of art and activism — Rodriguez calls it “artivism” — is a way of showing them early on that “there’s people that are willing to hear them and support them in the process.”
The location was also significant to Rodriguez.
“Showing up in Boston Common and having the State House right behind is just a visual statement of how important it is to come together as a community,” Rodriguez said.
