Feminism and its goals are often misconstrued, but a biannual arts showcase aims to prove the topic needs to be talked about more.

The University of Iowa Feminist Union hosted The Feminist Voices event at Public Space One on Tuesday, presenting art and artists from different media backgrounds — including music, writings, and a gallery for visual arts. Photographs of women being “silenced”, readings on personal experiences, and many more acts involving music or visuals filled the two-hour showcase.

“There isn’t just one women’s experience. The experience of a white woman is different from the experience of a black woman is different from the experience of an Asian woman and so on,” said Sophie Katz, Events Chair of UI Feminist Union. “But the issues aren’t separate things, they all go together. This isn’t just ‘white woman’ feminism, this is everyone feminism.”

Katz said the event opens up a space for people to express their thoughts on difficult subjects.

“There are issues like gender and sexuality issues that people aren’t comfortable going up on stage or out into a gallery and saying ‘here, let’s talk about this for a while’ because these issues are still very taboo in our society,” Katz said. “Feminist Voices is a platform for these pieces that wouldn’t get a platform otherwise, the voices that wouldn’t otherwise get a chance to be heard.”

Caitlyn Strack, vice president of UI Feminist Union, said feminism has always been critical to her life and that’s why she decided to get involved.

“I’ve always thought feminism was a very important social issue and maybe not as widely supported as it should be,” Strack said.

Katz said the event gave people the chance to tell their own stories as opposed to trying to relate to the stories about people very different from themselves.

“Reading at Feminist Voices was this eye-opening experience for me as a freshman that my story is important too and people can hear my voice too, and I believe that that’s been the experience for a lot of other people in the show as well,” she said.

Robyn Groth, a writer from Cedar Rapids and Feminist Voices participant, said the event gave her a chance to get in touch with other writers.

“This is an opportunity to be more public to people who are also in the same field, to get out into the world,” Groth said. “Plus, why wouldn’t you support this cause? It seems obvious.”

Katz said the show made strides to be all-inclusive.

“There are lots of events around where people will come up and speak about important issues, but this is first and foremost an art showcase with a specific theme,” Katz said. “Feminist Voices is up there trying to keep the doors open to members of all genders, races, and sexualities.”

Arts can be a very powerful tool of activism, and therefore feminism, which addresses so many different topics, Katz said.