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Abuse survivors bear 'witness'

Art project was therapy for women affected by violence

By Rich Copley rcopley@herald-leader.com

This is Jack and Jill's home.

The door bears the phrase "Home Sweet Home" on a red heart; behind it are three rooms.

In the top room, Jill is a puppet with strings on her arms and a sign in her hands that says "courage," because that, and a guardian angel, are what sustained her during hours of sitting in the turquoise chair listening to Jack's verbal abuse.

The second floor is covered with eyes, representing how Jack would spy on Jill, and pictures of the gun he would hold to her head.

The bottom floor is filled with word clouds containing the expletives Jack would yell at Jill and the phrase "I love you to death."

"He would say that, and it made no sense because death has nothing to do with love," Jill M. says, showing The House That Jack Built, which she created in collaboration with Lexington artist Pat Gerhard as part of the Lexington Art League's project Witness.

The project was two years in the making after being suggested by LeTonia Jones, an advocacy programs director for the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association and first vice president of the Art League's board.

"It came out of an ongoing desire to make the Art League relevant to the issues in the community," says Jones, who also drew inspiration from producing the Until the Violence Stops festival at the University of Kentucky in 2007.

Projects such as Witness have dual purposes: giving survivors of violence a way to deal with what they have endured and raising community awareness of violence against women. The issue recently leapt back into the headlines when Amanda Ross was killed in Lexington. Steve Nunn, her ex-fiancé and a former state legislator and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate, has been charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

"It is unfortunate timing," says Julia Curiel, program coordinator for the Art League. "But it does show why there needs to be awareness of this issue in the community."

Santana Berry, 23, a University of Kentucky junior majoring in social work, says that like many other survivors of domestic abuse, she suffered in silence for years before telling her story.

"I will take any opportunity to share my story," Berry says, "because if someone else going through the same thing hears it and connects with it, it may empower them to speak up and start their own journey."

She spoke about her experiences first in a UK writing program designed to help survivors of abuse, and then at Until the Violence Stops.

The top portion of her piece, Space for Change, which she created with artist Alice Leininger Underwood, depicts a stage with a spotlight and a microphone, because that is how she first told her story. The bottom portion is wire mesh that holds eyeglasses, empowering phrases and one of the green Chuck Taylor low-top shoes that she wore when she spoke up.

Like other artists, she said she found something therapeutic in working on the piece. She said it expressed her feelings in a new way.

Jill M., who prefers not to use her last name, says, "I've had family and friends say they didn't really understand what I had been through until they saw the piece, even though I'd told them about it."

Jones says, "That's why I am so passionate about being able to use art, because our society is very visual, and these pieces have a different impact."

There was not a precedent for Witness that the Art League was aware of, Jones and Curiel say. A primary model they worked from was Side-by-Side, a project that the Art League has had for several years, pairing artists with special-needs children at Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation.

Preparing for the project, the abuse survivors, who are referred to as storytellers, and the artists went through workshops. Artists were screened and completed two sessions to prepare for dealing with violence and abuse survivors.

"I think they were worried we would hear their stories and freak out," said fiber artist Mary Nehring, who collaborated with Mary Jacobs. "I think it was overtraining, because if you have an ounce of human compassion, you can't help but be moved by what these women have been through."