Hidden in Plain Sight

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Artist: Caren Garfen

Title: Hidden in Plain Sight

Attribution: Hidden in Plain Sight, 2025, Caren Garfen

Year: 2025

Materials: Cotton, silk threads, 24 vintage ophthalmic lenses, 26 miniature picture frames, photographs

Dimensions: 66cm x 40cm x 1cm

Image Statement: On 7 October 2023, Jewish women were brutally attacked by Hamas terrorists. These innocent citizens of Israel had no defence against a carefully planned, systematic assault. They were woken from sleep, tending to their babies or preparing breakfast for their families in the supposed safety of their homes. Others were dancing under open skies at a music festival. The terrorists recorded their crimes with bodycams, dragging women away, overpowering them, committing acts of extreme violence and murder. The artist reflects on the tangible silence from the #MeToo movement and others in the face of such indescribable atrocities. These victims have been forced into invisibility because of their heritage and where they live. Invisible to their attackers, and invisible to a global audience unwilling to look beyond its own prejudice. What has humanity come to, when within hours of the attack, voices rose not in compassion or outrage, but in denial, insisting that the attack had never taken place?