A number of 26 pictures with silhouettes of women, men and children splashed with paint, showing scenes of domestic violence, have been exhibited in the square before the monument to Ruler Stephan the Great. The exhibition “Indifference supports violence” was mounted by the “Promo-LEX” Association and the General Police Inspectorate, IPN reports.

The representative of “Promo-LEX” Carolina Bondarciuc said the event is held within the world campaign “16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence”. For the third year in a row, the Association carries out a campaign to sensitize the people to the necessity of preventing and combating domestic violence in Moldova.

The pictures were taken by photographer Octavian Bylea. “We decided that we longer want to see bodies in bruises and humiliated women. He then suggested producing pictures inspired by pictures of the American artist Jackson Pollock, using the active painting technique (gesture painting). We chose the orange color, which is the symbol of non-violence at world level,” stated Carolina Bondarciuc.

The Association set the goal of making the Moldovans realize that the use of violence is not a private problem and should not be hidden behind doors as it is a problem of society. “We are a country dominated by prejudice,” said Carolina Bondarciuc.

Vladimir Cazacov, deputy head of the General Public Security Division of the General Police Inspectorate, said that domestic violence is an expanding phenomenon in Moldova because both the police and the population became more conscious of it and more often report such offenses. In the first nine months of this year, there were reported 1,700 cases of domestic violence, an increase of 68% compared with the corresponding period last year.

The exhibit will continue until December 10.