2Lei 2019: Black Label Exhibition Corner in Second Life

2019 marks the 10th Edition of 2Lei’s annual campaign to raise awareness of the plight of women the world over who face violence – physical, sexual and psychological – on a daily basis. The event, mixing art, music and talks, runs through November and December each year. I’ve already provided an introduction to this year’s Edition (see: No Violence! the 2Lei 10th edition in Second Life), and wanted to take a little time to focus down on the largest collection of art within the event, which can be found at the Black Label Exhibition Corner and urban city.

Some fifty artists are involved in No Violence! this year, with 20 of them presenting a rich mix of 2D and 3D art at BLEC and the neighbouring urban city. They are: Alpha Auer, Bamboo Barnes, Rebeca Bashly, Mavi Beck, Monique Beebe, Mona Byte, Cica Ghost, Storie’s Helendale, Livio Korobase, Kimeu Korg, Cherry Manga, Paola Mills, Meilo Minataur, Frenchy25, Pixelbeing, Natalia Seranade, Theda Tammas, Sunset Theas, Nino Vichan and Ciottolina Xue. Which, however you look at it, is an impressive list!

The art is equally impressive – and more importantly, evocative of the subject at hand.  With the exhibition spaces, the 2D art can be found within gallery-style buildings and mounted on street fences within the urban city area, where the artists are able to present multiple image, with 3D artists similarly presenting installations throughout the city and amidst its more open areas.

As getting around everything can be confusing given the volume of art on offer, teleport boards are available allowing visitors  to hop to specific installations – but I really do recommend exploring the gallery spaces and streets of the city on foot in order to gain full exposure of the sheer richness of art and narrative present here; particularly given the way the decaying condition of the urban city setting perhaps stands as a metaphor for the physical and mental decay suffered when subjected to repeated bouts of abuse.

Such is the power of the art offered here, that offering a blow-by-blow review of the installations with BLEC is really meaningless: this is art that really should be seen first hand.

However, I couldn’t help but feel that were a single image to be used to encapsulate the purpose of No Violence! and the 2Lei collective within the art gathered at BLEC, Mavi Beck’s All’improvviso c’e’ tanto freddo (“Suddenly there’s so much cold”) would perhaps be it.

There is a haunting simplicity of message within this piece, seen on the right, from the faint indentations on an upper lips suggestive of nervous biting, to the single open wound on the raise palm that shields half of a face, to the depth of feeling that is conveyed through the one visible eye staring outward from behind that protective hand.

The 2Lei 10th Edition runs through until the end of December 2019, and I thoroughly recommend taking the time to visit BLEC to appreciate the installations there. I also recommend visiting the other locations across the grid that are supporting the event. You can pick up a teleport HUD containing all the No Violence! exhibitions from the information kiosks alongside the landing point listed in this article.

SLurl and Additional Links

• Black Label Exhibition Corner and urban city (Eternal Possession, rated Moderate)
• Additional links:
  • 2Lei blog
  • 2Lei on Facebook