Lament. An expression of grief or sorrow.

The United Nations reported that in 2023, (at least) 51,100 women were victims of femicide globally (Five essential facts to know about femicide. UN Women – Headquarters, 2024). Intimate partners and family members are the biggest perpetrators of femicide. Lament for 51,100 women has drawn inspiration from the artworks referenced in my essay. Particularly, the use of video in Gina Birch’s “3-minute scream” and the titling of Regina Jose Galindo’s “279 Golpes”. Based on works of sound art that include screams that I have come across within this project, I felt that the scream I wanted to portray would be an embodied one. An embodied scream feels like the most powerful way to convey the statistics of femicide as audiences may dismiss a disembodied scream due to the separation of vocalisation and human.

Through my research, I have understood that screams can have a transformative nature, which is why I chose to include the 2023 statistics of femicide in the title. I intend that the idea of lamenting for 51,100 women can help audiences understand the scale of femicide and that it is a reality that women face globally, and I hope that the use of the scream will be evocative in critical thinking on femicide. 

   

Five essential facts to know about femicide | UN Women – Headquarters (2024). https://www.unwomen.org/en/articles/explainer/five-essential-facts-to-know-about-femicide#:~:text=In%202023%2C%20around%2051%2C100%20women,someone%20in%20their%20own%20family.