This year, you have before your eyes -in the stained glass window of the lobby- the work Anònimes by Paula Santiago. Painter, doctor in Fine Arts and professor at the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

Behind those simple and energetic strokes, the art that reflects and denounces is hidden. Paula's artistic proposal emphasizes all women who are subjected to violence and who, instead, do not report; women, therefore, who neither add nor count in the statistics. As the artist says: "The names of women we know, unfortunately, correspond to those who have died or have been injured, but we will never know the thousands and thousands of names of those who live their situation in silence."

She wants to go beyond the noticeable tip of the iceberg of male violence. She aims to give visibility to the mysterious base, to the part that is not seen, to that 90% that remains submerged. And she recreates that fight plastically and with its own codes. She clings to the freedom of artistic expression to execute the forms and paints on the fragile paper female figures with an unrealistic vision.

On those foundations, Paula Santiago has articulated Anònimes, a work that catches the eye and forces our senses to respond.

And she confronts us with silhouettes of women who look at us, women without environment, women who fade away, women with sewn mouths, lonely women, women who dream of being other women, women with sharp shields, women with thorny hair... Women who need a communal “us”, women who need us to improve the response we offer them as a society.

Paula Santiago seeks that darkness does not engulf the silent ones, those who suffer alone, those who force a smile so that it seems that nothing happens.

Not all victims have visible marks of abuse. If we look at the statistics, almost half of the victims do not report because they believe their case is not serious enough. When you talk to professionals who care for women in situations of violence, they tell you that fear and dishonor, emotional and economic dependence, lack of confidence in justice and fear that their children suffer are what restrains them.

The episodes of violence between adolescent girls and young women have shot up; and the constant trickle of victims, of women and daughters and sons killed by male violence does not stop. The figures are overwhelming.

The author, with Anònimes, wants to generate debate, create a critical discourse and extend them to all areas. With every face she paints, she claims that the fight against gender violence must be a political and social priority, and that we all are decisive in the battle.

This scourge has no nationality, age or social class, and does not come out of nowhere but it’s the result of a sociocultural model full of stereotypes and based on inequalities; a model that makes one gender feel superior to another.

The violence that destroys lives navigates through a patriarchal system that makes itself at ease, and the fight must begin at home and at school. Coeducation is the best way to prevent and, to good purposes, we must necessarily add means.

The emergency we live in requires many violet doors and resources to implement legislative reforms. There’s still much to do... and Paula Santiago reminds us, with the fantasy of her brushstrokes, that we all have reasons.

By Iolanda Ibarra