Isis Davis-Marks Photo
Nasty Women Connecticut’s Luciana McLure, Louisa de Cossy, Abbie Kundishora, and Attallah Sheppard at Sunday’s event.
One woman speaks of how men on the assembly line harassed her and her female colleagues, one of whom was taunted for wearing yoga pants and bending over.
Those stories emerge in Testimonials, a film project that seeks to share the stories of members of the community who were sexually harassed or assaulted.
Members of the group Nasty Women Connecticut, which put together the project, held a screening of the new film this past Sunday at Wesville’s Kehler Liddell Gallery. The project, which received funding from the City of New Haven Mayor’s Community Arts Grants Program, features interviews with women, non-binary, and male members of the community sharing their personal stories
The project aims to show that the #metoo movement — an international response to sexual harassment and assault — is not limited to wealthy white women who are used to the national spotlight.
“I wanted to ask: What does it mean to tell your own story? We’d love to see this project take off, and show that these incidents happen within our own community,” said Louisa de Cossy, the filmmaker behind the project.
Nasty Women Connecticut,s a group of activists, artists, and scholars, formed in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential election and his depiction of Hillary Clinton as a “nasty woman.” The group aims to support “nasty women” — women, immigrants and other marginalized groups. Nasty Women Connecticut joined groups in over 40 communities nationwide to organize art exhibitions highlighting the work of anyone who identifies as a “nasty woman” or an ally. The Testimonials project is part of a larger mission to show that all members of the community are affected by a pernicious culture of harassment and assault.
“Nasty Women started right after Trump, but now we want to emphasize that its not just about white women,” said Luciana McLure, the founder of Nasty Women Connecticut. “We want to create a platform of art and accessibility to all,” featuring local people who normally would not have their stories told.
Attallah Sheppard.
In the new film, one of the stories focused on a woman working on an assembly line between jobs in order to make ends meet. During her interview, this woman recounted the constant harassment that she receives on the job because the majority of her co-workers were male. She said that one female co-worker was consistently harassed because she wears yoga pants to work and has to constantly bend over.
Another testimonial piece featured a young woman whose family had immigrated to the United States. When she was younger, she had been sexually abused by her uncle; members of her family and her community tried to persuade her to stay quiet about the issue. She talked about how she finally began to heal once she entered therapy.
A third testimonial piece featured a gay man talking about his time in school and how his classmates would taunt, tease, and even attempt to use violence against him because of his sexual orientation.
“Storytelling is important. Video making and filmmaking are powerful outlets to bring into a simple space. We wanted to tell the stories of women broadly and simply with no filter,” McLure said.
“We wanted to create an inclusive space,” said Attallah Sheppard, a poet and another member of Nasty Women.
Mariah Gormas, an art therapist, was available at Sunday’s screening to help people make “empowerment stones” — small marble objects with positive messages in order to help people cope with some of the issues discussed in the screening.
“Empowerment stones” with positive messages created during the screening.
“Empowerment stones should contain a positive message that can serve as a daily reminder to the person carrying them,” Gormas said.
Now that the Testimonials project is underway, members of Nasty Women are looking for ways to spread the project by showing it around the community.
“We want to go to campuses, community centers, and shelters. But we also want to feature the voices of LGBTQ people, men and others in order to make sure that all voices are heard. This story belongs to all of us,” McLure said.
Nasty Women Connecticut is accepting submissions for the Testimonials project through June. You can reach them via email by emailing nastywomenct@gmail.com.