Guns and Tampons: A History of Violence Against Women I Know is the new work written and performed by Hanalei Ramos. In her first multi-media solo show, Hanalei has staged a series of performance pieces based on the experiences of several women who consider themselves victims and survivors of abusive relationships with family, lovers, and friends. By staging portraits of some of the most intimate moments of any woman’s life, Guns and Tampons challenges our assigned definitions of womanhood and violence and how it is warped by cultural expectations, societal conditioning, and the more subtle forms of violation experienced by women.
The work features a myriad of characters assembled across generations and circumstance. Guns and Tampons touches on the found stories of a high school senior’s found diary entries, the lost interviews of an undocumented college student, a couple caught in the cyclical dance of violence, the language of assault, and the many people who are yearning to understand how they function while maneuvering through love. Guns and Tampons questions what it means to be a survivor and victim of violence, and exposes their muddled boundaries. However, the work serves as a hopeful narrative threaded by themes of shared isolation, patterns of love, and the chances we take toward the secret hope of self-understanding. Ultimately, the patchwork testimony of several individuals transforms itself as the story of all women, and becomes a compelling glimpse into a world of survival and strength. Guns and Tampons was produced by Gayle Isa and directed by Gary San Angel. The show was created through the generous support of the Asian Arts Initiative.
HANALEI RAMOS is the co-founder of the 101Project artists collective. She has toured around the nation to various college and university campuses as a spoken word artist. In the last two years, she has been working with various women’s organizations in the Jersey City/ New York City area, and much of her artistic work has been governed by the recurring themes of violence and the many issues women of color face in the United States. Most recently, she has authored Letters to Martha, a personal testimony to her first-hand experience with domestic violence, and her first collection of poetry and prosetry, Foiled Stars. Hanalei has also developed a full-length one-woman show, Guns and Tampons: A History of Violence Against Women I Know which was created through the generosity of the Asian Arts Initiative.
Official Website: http://www.naatf.org/index.php?page_id=80