Tuesday, November 25, marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. In recognition of this date, artist SELF and television presenter and founder of the nonprofit association Corações Com Coroa, Catarina Furtado, have collaborated to bring to life the performance intervention “Sentença Invisível” on Garret Street in Lisbon, aiming to raise awareness about the plight of women who are victims of violence.
“In a year when 24 women have already been murdered in the context of domestic violence, the installation—a cage with a woman trapped inside—symbolizes the cycle of fear, dependency, and lack of protection that continues to compel many victims to live with their abusers,” reads a note sent to newsrooms.
The initiative also featured the presence of Francisca Van Dunem, former Minister of Justice, who participated in a public reflection session on the need for more effective coordination among various entities in the fight against domestic violence, in a context where the crime is already considered public.
Andreia Catarina, “a child of domestic violence,” also participated in this action, sharing “the urgency for a paradigm shift that ensures true protection for victims, something that was lacking for her as a child.”
During the intervention, Catarina Furtado distributed “an open letter with proposals from Corações Com Coroa” along the street, aiming to reinforce the “mission of mobilizing society and demanding more legislative, judicial, and social powers.”
The founder of Corações Com Coroa emphasized that “more needs to be done, more needs to be demanded, and more protection needs to be provided.” “We cannot continue to hear women’s voices only after they have been violated,” she stressed.
Meanwhile, artist SELF stated, “the installation ‘Sentença Invisível’ aims to spark reflection on the invisible incarceration that too many women continue to experience in the space that should be the safest: their own home.”
Check the gallery above for images.
24 women were murdered in 2025
At least 24 women have been murdered in Portugal this year up to November 15, of which 21 as a result of gender-based violence (femicide), according to the Observatory of Murdered Women (OMA) of the Women’s Alternative and Response Union (UMAR).
According to the preliminary report presented today at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto (FPCEUP), based on data published by the media throughout the year, of the 24 women killed, 16 femicides occurred in intimate relationships, five in a family context, and in the remaining three cases, one resulted from a casual discussion, another in a family context, and the third in another context.
The document also reports 50 attempted murders, of which 40 were femicide attempts (38 in intimate relationships and two in a family context) and 10 attempted murders (four in a family context, four in a casual discussion, one in another context, and one in an unspecified context).
