GENDER-BASED violence (GBV) survivor Nyasha Gurure is using photography to raise awareness of the scourge as part of the 16 days of activism against GBV campaign.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, about one in three women aged 15 to 49 have experienced physical violence and about one in four women have experienced sexual violence since the age of 25.
Gurure said she believed as a survivor, she has what it takes to speak against GBV in society.
She said most of her visuals speak volumes of the life she lived under the guise of “marriage”.
“What was happening to me was that the man seemed to be so loving, charming and caring yet some days he would just wake up and beat me up for petty issues then the next thing he would come and apologise,” Gurure said.
“He would tell me that he loves me so much and by beating me, he would trying to discipline me and I would tell myself that this man is right.
“I would tell myself that I was wrong and deserved the beating then I would give him another chance.”
Gurure said she later realised that she didn’t deserve the beatings.
She recalls her marriage life through photography.
“The first image shows a very irritated man looking at his wife with so much anger and hate while holding a mirror because a woman’s appearance, attitude and mood is usually a reflection of how she is loved and treated,” she said.
“So he is holding a reflection of his wife’s pain, screams, bruises and wounds. The image is captioned ‘A place I once called home’”.
The second picture shows the man beating his wife seated on a wheelbarrow which is sometimes used as a mode of transport.
“My message to the community is that do not hesitate to report your partner if he is abusing you because one day you might die in that marriage,” she said.