An exhibition called One in Three: What Does It Take for You to Be Outraged? at the Nairobi National Museum is exploring the wide and complex nature of gender-based violence.

One in Three is a creation of the Art Programme of the World Bank Group. There are no images of battered faces, bruised bodies and haunted eyes. Instead, the art programme aims to address broader issues of physical and symbolic violence against women through hard facts and symbolic art.

The title draws from statistics by UN Women, which estimates that 35 per cent of women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence.

The exhibition’s varied display of prints and sculptures echoes different aspects of gender-based violence such as domestic abuse, rape, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, child marriages and female genital mutilation.

The Nairobi Museum’s art curator, Lydia Gatundu-Galavu, says they chose the exhibition because of the topical nature of this global scourge and because Kenyan artists were selected as part of the exhibition.

Patrick Mukabi’s female figurine from his Siasa Mbaya, Maisha Mbaya series is made of iron sheets obtained from houses burned down during the 2007-2008 post-election violence in which many women were raped. “Women and girls still suffer the consequences to date through diseases, disabilities and psychological trauma,” writes the artist.

Catherine Wanjohi, an advocate for Kenyan sex-workers, quite literally took her counselling skills to the streets.

“I am part of a community that has judged them for too long,” said Wanjohi, who quit a prestigious job as a school headmistress to provide services for women who support their families through prostitution. A picture of Wanjohi by Mia Collis and Cynara Vetch shows her wearing an eclectic feather hat with a bright smile and her hands in a prayer-like pose.

The Silent Conversations, a graceful sculpture by Maggie Otieno, is made of mild steel and reclaimed wood. It symbolises progressively healing scars that women carry with dignity and beauty, the tight fusion of materials showing a strong and undefeated spirit. “But it is also about the silence of the society in admitting it has been part of this scarred journey,” said Otieno.

Gender-based violence is a worldwide menace often perpetuated by family members or acquaintances. UN Women states that 48 per cent of women in the European Union have experienced violence from people close to them.

Elena Grant, an art history researcher with The Art Programme, said they wanted to express this universal phenomenon, “through visual means, by showing art on the subject of gender-based violence from each region of the world.”

Artworks were sourced from the World Bank’s permanent collection, from artists whose work reflects gender violence and through NGOs that deal with the subject.

One in Three opened at the World Bank in Washington DC in 2014. Since then, it has been featured in Brazil, Senegal, Germany and Switzerland. The show has been of particular interest to medical professionals, psychologists and social workers who, says Ms Grant, “Were interested in seeing examples of art therapy.”

The subliminal nature of violence against women comes out in works by artist Manal Al Dowayan of Saudi Arabia who uses different art forms to spotlight the restrictive conditions of women in her homeland. Bound is a black and white photo of an Arab woman with clenched hands tied together by a chequered head-cloth of the type worn by many Arab men.

With the world becoming more of a global village, the clash of cultures impacts women and girls disproportionately. Eye Candy, an acrylic on canvas by Monica Jahan Bose, shows a pair of knee-high boots, a love “heart”, a traditional short sari blouse, and the words “h8 missing you” against a background of fire engine red.

Bose is a Bangladeshi immigrant in the United States and the Eye Candy series of paintings signifies the variety and conflicts of her East-West upbringing. Trained both in law and art, Bose now fights for the rights of poor, battered and immigrant women.

One in Three is on at the Ecology Gallery of the Nairobi Museum until September 27.