Storying Rape (2012)
Suzanne Lacy with Corey Madden
Storying Rape was a performance featuring new media and old, taking the form of a choreographed conversation at the top of Los Angeles City Hall that focused on the current state of rape narratives and the opportunities for persuasion that might be found in alternative narratives. Nine leaders in media, city politics, theory, service, law enforcement and activism considered how the narratives describing the act of rape are presented in various spheres, and how reframing these narratives might improve public understanding of violence against women. Filtering their ideas through the lens of narrative theory, participants discussed how changes in existing stories might yield new insights on violence prevention. Around the outside of this conversation witnessed by a small invited audience, a ring of 15 social media reporters communicated the conversation to the outside world, translating the private conversation into digital communication via each individual reporters’ perspectives. This was the culminating performance within the Three Weeks in January project.
Produced by Corey Madden, video by Peter Kirby, this collaboration with the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office and The Rape Treatment Center was commissioned by the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time Performance Festival.
