Why didn’t she just leave?

My work examines patterns in human behaviour - how patterns provide comfort, familiarity and control but also devastate other humans. I’m interested in the enormous energy required to break cycles and shift habits.

This installation looks at gender-based violence. It alludes to entanglement, wrenching fear and the enormity of breaking the abusive cycle. My process focused on pattern-making by using computer software to manipulate digital photographs into kaleidoscopes.

I shredded household records – their destruction symbolising the breaking of a cycle - and stuffed them into stockings. The stuffed forms represent a female body in trauma, filled with jumbled emotions and knowledge, manifesting as inflammation, fat and pain. These elements were combined with found objects that site the work in the domestic space.

The work provides bystanders an insight into a shrouded, shameful and dangerous human pattern. One that is very common and, on average, takes a woman seven attempts to break-free.

Installation Photo: Brenton McGeachie