Breaking the Silence on Domestic Violence

Image Galleries

November 19, 2021 • 54 Images

Group Exhibition organized by Breaking the Silence Organization

Breaking the Silence on Domestic Violence includes art by amateur and professional, male and female, young and old artists. Some make a living creating art. Some have rarely created an artwork previously. All have been inspired to create, to draw attention, to challenge, to reveal, to stand in solidarity, to cry out, to heal, to break the silence.

Descriptions of Art:

Images of artworks follow the descriptions. Match the artwork and description by the number before the artist’s name.

1 Amber Rae Marie Mayer Avem Rae: Phoenix Rising
This painting denotes the domestic abuse that the artist has gone through. As she falls into the ash pile of photographs, a camera, thrown furniture, and a mattress, her hands shrivel to dust. Once she finally decides to let go and surrender, Christ's power on the cross rebirths her with His flaming Holy Spirit. Despite all that she has gone through and has left behind in the ash, a new power-filled woman rises again to bring glory to the King of Kings.

2 Angela Beer Just Be (photo of piece in progress and photo of completed piece)
The experience of an unrelenting grief and sadness that speaks to you and says, “I don’t want to be sad anymore. I don’t want to be tired anymore. I don’t want to be useless, ugly, angry, forgetful, poor, too happy, too weird, smart, pretty or alive.” All the lies and half-truths it tells us; I need to remember sometimes...to just BE. The rest will look after itself.

3 Angela Beer Built by Touch
This piece is somewhat of a self-portrait without that being the original intent. An answer to my question, can I turn my pain into art? This is the ending (in an ideal world) of a life built upon the demented hands of others, turned into something beautiful and elegant.

4 Angela Beer Untitled
A representation of the abused in an experience that is a never ending cycle, hoping that the next time will be better but the show is the same. The projector portrays the experience that everyone else can see but the abused doesn’t always see it the way others do and cannot see a way out.

The exit sign is an indication of the amount of support and help available. The abused is unable to find their way out of the situation regardless of the acknowledgement of available support in which I’ve used the absence of a door, and a stationary table, to portray that idea.

5 Briony Haig Take Back the Night
Take Back the Night is part of a series of protest paintings that I am working on, of protests that I or my family have attended. The Take back the night marches are about women reclaiming their right to walk safely in the night. I believe that as a society we need to stop telling women what they shouldn’t do to stay safe, and start teaching men that they cannot abuse their strength to hurt women.

6 Briony Haig Respect your Mother
Respect your Mother is another piece in my protest series. Respect your Mother is nominally about respecting Mother Earth but I believe treating Mother Earth with respect and treating women with respect are all of a piece.

7 Charlie Johnston After the Storm

8 Charlie Johnston Dreamweaver

9 Sarah Welsh Johnston Contemplation

10 Sarah Welsh Johnston “...and they will carry her”

11 Christine Marek Back To You

12 Christine Marek Web And Ties

13 Durdana Islam Freedom
This piece represents all the women that fought their way through the abuse and finally were able to stand on her own two feet. The open arms are a symbolism for the hope in the future, the woman is standing in front of the sun to show that the light at the end of the tunnel is finally visible. The color palette is various hues of orange as the color is associated with happiness and determination.

14 Durdana Islam Breaking Barriers
This piece is about a mom ending the cycle or abuse, breaking a multitude of barriers which are represented by the colorful hands, to ultimately protect her kids. The kids are in the safe with their mom, she covers them from the world. The mom and kids are happy because they are safe with each other.

15 Eli Randa-Iskat Behind the Curtain
Sending the message that domestic violence affects ALL walks of life, ALL ethnicities, ALL socio-economic backgrounds and is hidden behind a curtain of fear, shame and silence. With education and support the curtain can be torn away.

16 Eli Randa-Iskat Silence Rent
Domestic violence is behind a façade of calm and silence due to fear and shame. Eventually silence and lives are torn apart.

17 Elizabeth Crozier TRANSITION
“TRANSITION” depicts a paradigm shift from a shadowed past moving forward to a bright future. The beauty and light blooms and becomes the new reality.

18 Eveline Mangin Mauws Dolls
Being a woman, I sometimes feel exposed and defenceless when I am threatened with violence. Sexual comments and touches at work or in social situations make me very uncomfortable. These photographs are part of a two-year project using self-portraits and dolls to address control of women through violence and coercion. I want the fear to stop. I want to feel safe!

19 Eveline Mangin Mauws Self-portraits (34)

20 Faye Mount Let OUR CHILDREN BLOOM
This piece calls to mind the happiness and curiosity of children at play. Children have a right to be able to grow, like a flower, and BLOOM!

In my teaching, for over 30 years, I have been entranced by the development and engagement of young minds. No matter the cultural background, socio-economic status, or talent; they all have so much to give to our world. They are the future.

21 Faye Mount Lost Girls
This painting is a tribute to the lost and missing girls and women. It is also a metaphor in which we search for the lost girls who have been abused and killed, while losing sight of the need for Action!

We need funded educational resources and intervention strategies to support and protect women and children. We need consequences for the perpetrators that don’t punish the victims.

ME TOO is not enough.

22 Genevie Henderson BROKEN
“Use the darkness of your past to propel you to a brighter future.” ― Donata Joseph

Violence kills -- bodies, minds, spirits. It breaks families, generations, communities. It destroys life cycles, dreams, hopes, futures. Its path of destruction is pervasive, enduring and crushing.

Violence, abuse and bullying manifests itself in secret places, hidden from the world -- feeding upon itself, justifying its cruelty and brutality, emboldened in its cowardice and shame. It waits to be revealed, disclosed. The weight of it must be broken.

23 Genevie Henderson SECRETS
Thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, but, above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.” ― Yehuda Bauer

We all live with secrets, some small and inconsequential, others bothersome, and some so traumatic, we dare not speak. It takes courage from many to break the silence of violence. Its pattern is complicated, pervasive, and horrifying. Dare we reveal? Dare we not?

24 Ildiko Nova Pearl
Unfortunately, there are high number of abusive relationships. Each case and story is unique, sad or tragic. There are certain characteristics and warning signs of abuse, such as controlling by the partner, jealousy, blames, humiliation and other efforts to isolate the victim from social connections. Bad behaviour can turn to open aggression, such as yelling, forceful actions and causing physical harm. The victim often has no resources to leave, due to lack of financial independence or inability to good decision making. In some societies women are more oppressed than elsewhere, so the social norm or the wrong idea of patriarchy also make it more difficult to escape.

These two pieces represents different aspects of abusive relationships. Corner is showing violence, physical harm and its repetitive nature.

Pearl is a symbolic expression of all the losses caused by these unfortunate situations. As a broken necklace, the beads are falling apart and some of them cannot be reached. One's self worth, self-confidence is all lost. Hopelessness, shame and confusion are common problems and they can further develop to depression, anxiety and PTSD.

Public awareness is very important, society needs to learn about domestic abuse and victims need all possible support and the social network to have courage to break through and leave.

25 Ildiko Nova Corner

26 Jane Gateson Can’t See For Looking
The first thing I did when I began this piece of art was to write boldly in pencil two questions: “What is unnamed that needs to be named? What is named that needs to be unnamed?” You can see a bit of this writing in the upper right hand corner.

For things to be named, they must first be seen.

Domestic violence and abuse are often ignored, hidden, excused and unnamed. Sometimes they are so well hidden they remain unseen. Other times they’re right in front of us and still remain unseen.

27 Jane Gateson The Black Dog
A member of the family. In the beginning, such a cute puppy. So affectionate and so much fun. A faithful presence.

Then, the occasional growl.

Bites when annoyed. Only a few stitches required this last time. Still a constant presence. Always hovering close by. Always watching. Those blue eyes.

28 Julia (Juls) Rempel The Hand of Christ
This piece depicts the sorrowful irony of the times in history when the Church of Christ has participated in and/or supported abuse. Our own national history of the abuse of Indigenous peoples readily comes to mind. Shown here is a young woman on the "cross of the church", but it could have easily been someone of a different age or gender. The blue represents the water that flows through our common humanity. When given this piece, what particularly touched the artist, however, was the vision of Christ even in his crucifixion, straining, though it cause added pain to himself, to reach out his hand to comfort those that were being harmed.

29 Julia (Juls) Rempel The Cross of Christ, a cross of the church
The church has a checkered history when it comes to abuse, including against Indigenous peoples. This piece specifically depicts the history of some churches to "crucify" women in the name of THE GOOD. This is not meant to equate the experience of woman on the cross with that of Christ's - the piece is only a limited metaphor. What struck the artist when she was given this piece, was that even in his crucifixion, THE GOOD - that is Christ - was straining with added pain to himself, to comfort those that were being harmed.

30 Karen Moffatt Double Vision
One woman experiences beauty in the forest. A woman who has experienced abuse from an intimate partner sees and feels fear in the forest. Hopefully, with support from friends and family and Counselling Services, she will once again be able to see and feel beauty in the forest on her healing journey.

31 Karen Robb My Blood Ran Cold
This is the first piece in my series that deals with violence against women called "It Becomes Us”.

Each painting reflects a different woman’s individual and unique story. These stories are then translated onto life sized canvases. They are visual realizations of their own feelings, and raw emotional experiences with this horrible issue. All subjects remain unidentifiable in order to highlight the universal commonality associated with violence against women.

32 Kathleen Shellrude Messenger

33 Kathleen Shellrude Love Is the Cure

34 Ken Hildebrand Kissed by a Fist
Mysterious words inked on your arm / When happier times were here
Mysterious to us...but with a meaning / That all can understand
The most beautiful meaning / Spoken or written
A meaning we all want to say / A meaning we all want to hear
Your fist kissed my lip...HARD! / Just split my lip, but it shattered my heart
Love yesterday...anger today / Once a helping hand, now a hardened fist
An angry fist, a hateful fist / Love has turned to hate
Your fist kissed my lip...HARD! / Just split my lip, but it shattered my heart
kjh

35 Ken Hildebrand Words...
Angry words / Cruel words / Weaponized words
All spoken to beat me down / Ugly... / Lazy... / Stupid...
Some words so vile, I cannot say them here / Call me these things
In a language I don’t know / And the effect on me / Is nothing
Say them to me / In my mother tongue
And the effect on me / Is like bullets piercing my heart
Words used to punish / And to kill my spirit
Words to imprison me / In a world without hope
kjh

36 Kirsten Schroeder Grey Matter
"One in seven women has been injured by an intimate partner. Among women experiencing domestic violence, a handful of research teams across the U.S. have now documented alarming rates of head injuries, with studies suggesting that as many as 90 percent of women seeking emergency or shelter services for domestic violence report have had them." https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/the-invisible-victims-of-traumatic-brain-injury/

37 Kirsten Schroeder Complicit No More
So many women were physically or sexually abused growing up. They were expected to put a good face on everything and not talk about it. Powerless, they tried to decorate their lives with beauty, adding more and more lace to cover up the bruises. But these are soulful, creative, colourful women, artists in their own right. They saved their pieces of beauty and reconfigured them into something new and strong and transformed. The last vessel is the breakthrough, symbolized by the colour turquoise and a shattered vagina. We are complicit no more, and we say no more.

38 Lori Ferguson IDENTITY CRISIS
This painting speaks about how experiencing domestic violence can leave you vulnerable, exposed and unprotected, even in your own home. It is a statement about how over time this kind of trauma erodes your sense of self and leaves you unsure about your own identity and place in the world. This piece is essentially a self-portrait and has been instrumental in my own healing process as a survivor.

39 Lori Ferguson BEHIND THE CURTAIN
The raw emotion in this piece speaks both of the fear experienced when domestic violence is present in the home, as well as the shame and loneliness felt when that trauma is carried out behind closed doors.

40 Loricia Pacholko-Matheson Injuria

41 Loricia Pacholko-Matheson "You Don't Look Like Yourself"

42 Lynda Toews Before Grace
A lot of the violence began at the dinner table. The back wallpaper is a collage of photos of when the four of us children were younger and times were a bit happier. I remember the portrait of Jesus on the wall, and I inserted the poem about children learning what they live on the other wall. My mother was always mad at my father for the way he treated us. He would scan his gaze around the dinner table to make sure all our eyes were closed before grace. Then if my brother, sitting beside him wasn’t bending over his plate, he’d get hit because he could drop food on the floor. Then, when he would bend over his plate, he’d get hit for maybe getting hair in his food. . . a no-win situation constantly. My closest sister and I are the foreground silhouettes.

43 Lynda Toews Endless Cycle
This is also a family around a “table”, but the table is also a swirling endless cycle. Now my brother’s face exists in the table with my dad’s hand swirling it around, and my mother clawing at it from the top trying to stop it. Through the hole in the middle is the next generation (nephews) looking on. I called it an endless cycle because now my brother is an addict in the worst part of Vancouver, and the rest of us struggle in various ways. My closest sister and I are together with our backs to the viewer, faceless and powerless again. My parents and one of these nephews have since passed away, and we struggle to be a family.

44 Manny Martins-Karman The Loud and the Quiet #1
The Loud - shouting, screaming through the paper thin walls. Maybe someone will hear and come to stop it. Just survive.
The Quiet - don’t breathe, maybe I won’t provoke him. Make no sound, make no movements. It will be over soon. Just survive.

The Loud - sound of flesh hitting the floor. Maybe it was an accident. Go back to sleep, it will be over in the morning. Just survive.
The Quiet - dare not speak for fear of setting off something I won’t be able to control. Just make it through another day. Just survive.

The Loud - had enough! Going to leave - get in the car. Quick Mommy lets go. Nowhere to run. Try again another day. Just survive.
The Quiet - silently plan your escape. Find help, tell someone. Shouldn’t be long now. Just survive.

45 Manny Martins-Karman The Loud and the Quiet #3

46 Michayla Carlson Absence
The piece portrays how even when individuals are surrounded by darkness the light within us is stronger.

47 Michayla Carlson Within
The image is a depiction of the confliction individuals have in reporting domestic abuse.

48 Nancy Marie Penny “STOP” the barbs of Abuse

49 Nancy Marie Penny ABUSE
For this painting, Nancy Marie has drawn on the pain from her own past.