The Bed. A place of rest and security, of warmth and protection. At once a symbol of “home” and the portal to another world, the world of dreams. A bed can be a place of pain; or a space for respite from pain.
This work replaces the crisp, clean linen of the archetypal bed with bruised and battered skin – signs of abuse and trauma. The bruises and blemishes are the outcome of a scenario that unfolds in the safety of the home, hidden by the privacy of the bedroom.
The concrete signs of hurt expressed in The Bed depict the different forms of abuse that occur behind closed doors: the physical, the mental, the emotional. My hope is that this installation will engage the audience with experiences of hidden abuse and trauma, and with their aftermath; the shame, hurt, and damage, invisible to the world but nevertheless present even after the bruises fade away.
We are some way from a time when violence and aggression towards women and children in the home was tacitly accepted (even if not always condoned). But there is still violence, just not always as evident as before. We learn today, often belatedly, of survivors of all kinds of abuse, and of the humiliating and degrading acts inflicted on them in the bedroom and in bed – supposedly a place of safety, repose and rest. I want The Bed to be uncomfortable; to influence greater commitment to stopping acts of domestic abuse; and to encourage treatment and healing for survivors.
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