Flo Kasearu The Game Is Not Over Until I Say So

Domestic violence and intimate partner violence is any kind of mental, physical, economic or sexual violence between people who are currently or have been in an intimate relationship. In addition to spouses and partners, this also includes violence by a loved one against a child, an elderly person, or a disabled person. In the most common case, a man uses violence against a female family member, especially a spouse or partner.

Therefore, the most unsafe place for many women is their home. Often the person who seems to care the most is the one who hurts the most. Therefore, it is difficult to seek help, because we can fear, hate and love the abuser at the same time.

Artist Flo Kasearu (b. 1985) has been dealing with issues of intimate partner violence for a long time and focused primarily on violence against women and uncovering this widespread problem. How to prevent violence? How to recognize an abuser and intimate partner violence? How to get away from violence and stand up for yourself? Kasearu announces these sharp questions in her characteristically striking, playful and memorable way. 

The installation The Game Is Not Over until I Say So is part of the artist’s solo exhibition Cut out of life held in Tallinn Art Hall in 2021. The playground on the wall marks the manipulative games and rules set by the abuser. For example, when facing an ex-husband in a courtroom, many women feel the “unfair game”. Men often manipulate the outcome of a divorce or present the incident from a different perspective. Divorce does not always bring the expected relief, because many women still have to endure harassment and manipulation by their ex-husband outside the courtroom, whether it concerns a restraining order or a shared custody agreement. 

Two chair-like objects on the floor symbolize women and the life chapters they are trying to leave behind. Usually, the fear of change is worse than the fear of violence, because we have learned to deal with it. A user of violence always knows how things are and should be. The whole world has been created by him and for him. He is the possessor of truth and judge of justice, who has taken upon himself the task of explaining the world order to others as well. Based on his position of power, he decides in which chair and in which posture, if and how the victim should sit and be.