Apr. 14, 2010 - Issue #756: Old Wives

Revue

Know your rights, know your wrongs

Young artists explore crime and victimization in Every Victim Matters

We all have a sense of crime and punishment. What actions cross the line for us—perhaps more specifically, where that line stands, exactly, is different for each person, but rarely does anyone get a chance to explore those boundaries safely. That division, of right/wrong changes with every generation too, which is one of the rifts being explored in Every Victim Matters.

It’s a youth art show focusing the topics of crime and victimization, and how the upcoming generations perceive it.

“When I hear the word victim, I think back to Jody Foster movies or something,” says Amy Fung, who’s managing the exhibition. “But with the youth, they were saying that the planet is a victim of human greed, poverty, or those who come from poverty and third world countries are a victim, from capitalism ... there are still local issues, from survivors of domestic abuse, of sexual abuse, and also just bullying, peer pressure. The perspectives are very wide and ranging, and local to global.”

This is the show’s second year, funded by Justice Canada as part of National Victims of Crime Awareness week. Last year was a more conservative effort, with around 30 young artists taking part, their work hanging in a city hall Bistro downtown. Fung was a judge that year, (there’s a cash prize for the artists to vie for with their works), but now that she’s taken over the management, it’s seen growth: she’s set it at the Latitude 53 gallery, overseen a greater push to get local schools involved and seen the participating artist ranks swell. There’s now 67 youth involved, from all over Edmonton, and a diverse spread of topics appearing on the drawings, paintings and other art-forms Fung’s seeing.

“Going into these schools, I haven’t been into a junior high school in about 15 years, and the variety of races is quite surprising, from every corner of the world,” she points out. “I guess that shows a changing Edmonton, a changing perspective.”

Getting a chance to explore ideas like crime and what makes a victim, Fung notes, is something young students rarely get to do in their formal education, especially when it moves beyond obvious laws into more personal territory.

“I guess there’s no way to hide the problems of the world,” she says. “Some of the youth have been expressing in their bios that we don’t really learn about these issues until you hear about it because your friends have gone through something, or you’ve gone through something. It’s not really in the curriculum, and we never really learn about it through any formal channels. I think it is something that does happen a lot more than we think, depending on how you understand victimization and justice, [which] I would say, is more of a keyword. I think it’s important, not just for the youth to think about these issues, but for the older generation to look and see what they’re thinking and what they’re saying.” V

Every Victim Matters
Latitude 53 Gallery (10248 - 106 St)
Mon, Apr 19 – Tue, Apr 20
Reception Apr 19 (5pm), featuring live musical performances

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