Behind Closed Doors

“Violence against women is globally recognised as a violation of human rights. It should be identified and discussed as a threat to the security of all women which compromises their fundamental rights to life and freedom from fear and want” New Junkie Post April 2011.

This exhibition focuses on the vulnerability and the fragility of women and children in regards to their human rights. Domestic violence is the physical, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse against another human being causing trauma, anxiety and fear leaving deep and lasting scars. Domestic violence in most cases is ‘behind closed doors’; it is unseen, not spoken about.
In these works I have portrayed individuals, each with their own personal experience as victims/survivors of domestic violence. Each piece hints at a truth, a dark secret, a silent scream of horror and pain. This work does not immediately reveal violence however looking beyond the surface all is not as it seems.
The skin is the basis of our sense of touch and it is a source of pleasure and pain. To pierce the skin is to cause bleeding, to hit skin bruises it. The combination of the colour palette and the medium of liquid graphite create an ephemeral quality, the surface is manipulated to create the pattern of skin. The intent of the fragile networks, the pattern of clothing, and the rhythm of lines across the works illicit an emotional, even visceral response.
The intent of each sculptural form is to evoke both a sense of absence and presence of the body. This is achieved by the inclusion of hair, juxtaposed against the muslin and twisted wire; the fragments of clothing, buttons and zips; the knotted and spiral forms and the insinuation of congealed blood all contained within the individual works. There is a tension created in the space between the transparent and opaque within each form which conveys a sense of fragility and sensitivity, an ephemeral feel. The thread of the individually embroidered name links each personalised story together.
This subject is a sensitive one. I am a witness, a third person conveying the stories of violence against women and children so that their story is revealed.