The PINK BOW PROJECT to be Presented By Karen Hawkins

For the past year, artist Karen Hawkins has excavated a dark aspect of humanity, reaching in to reclaim a measure of power over the memories left behind. The Pink Bow Project, which will be on view during National Child Abuse Prevention Month, opens with a Private Preview on April 12th at Gallery Shoal Creek in Austin, Texas.

A large-scale, multimedia work, The Pink Bow Project, is designed to envelop its audience. Upon entering the gallery, you are confronted by 52 sheer panels hung from the gallery ceiling like curtains. Massive in scale, each 9' x 4' panel holds 1000 pink hair bows, a ubiquitous symbol of a girl's childhood innocence. 51,660 hair bows will be displayed, representing the number of substantiated sexual abuse cases against young girls reported annually to national Child Protection Services agencies.

As you make your way through the gallery space, maneuvering through the panels like navigating through a maze, an audio component pulls you deeper into the space. Unified through experience, a crowd of voices is heard. From the crowd, a voice comes forward, stating their name and their age at the time of their abuse, and then fades back into the crowd as another survivor's voice comes to the forefront. As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse herself, the first voice will be Hawkins' brave statement, "My name is Karen. I was 10 years old."

She invites fellow survivors to anonymously record their voices and be part of The Pink Bow Project through her website: https://www.thepinkbowproject.com

"The Pink Bow Project is my response to, and visceral engagement with, the seemingly ungraspable struggle of childhood sexual abuse. It is both an invitation, and an anthem meant to honor the quieted voices that have yet to fill our universal chorus with their sound."

The installation opens to the public on April 13th with the artist's reception taking place on April 21st. It will remain open through May 15, 2018. Gallery Shoal Creek is located at 2832 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd #3 in Austin, TX 78702.

About Karen Hawkins:

Karen Hawkins is a multimedia artist based in Austin, Texas. A graduate of The University of Texas, Karen has exhibited her work domestically in Houston, Dallas and Austin, as well as internationally, with two pieces introduced in the 2015 Affordable Art Fair in Hong Kong.

Her other works, which vary from sculptural wall hangings to site-specific installations, can be found in private collections across the United States. Karen has commissioned works in public spaces around Austin, including The W Hotel, the Archer Hotel, Facebook's Austin Headquarters, Lumos Pharma Inc., as well as the Museum Tower Condominiums in Dallas, and the Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio.

She and her husband have five children and four grandchildren. They divide their time between Austin, Texas and a family farm in Baltimore, Ohio.

You can learn more about Karen here: http://www.karenhawkinsart.com

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