A Barometer of Healing

The themes of the exhibition ‘I LOVE YOU’ at Tenderpixel in May 2012 could easily be misunderstood. It was not a show about love at all. The actual premise was that regardless of any immediate motives we are drawn again and again back to themes that satiate our emotional need. 

We are accustomed to photography’s function in our everyday media to clearly narrate the world on our behalf that can make us a little complacent in our expectations of fine art practice. As Troika Editions stated at the private view “You are expecting us to work a little harder.”

Without reading the exhibition statement we maybe forgiven for mistaking the theme and some found ways quite successfully to imbue the works with un-intentioned meaning. http://art-corpus.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/review-of-i-love-you-at-tenderpixel.html

In my response to Miranda Gavin's comments on the Hotshoe Blog; there are no certainties, this is a discussion, a debate.

Grace Brown, 19 founder of Project Unbreakable is one of the artists from ‘I  LOVE YOU’ and author of the title image. Brown says “I (sic) use photography to help heal those who were sexually abused by asking them to write a quote from their attacker on a poster…to spread light, awareness, and healing for those who have been affected. ”

In the decision to share their identity in close juxtaposition to their protagonists’ words, Brown’s subjects use the boards as an instrument of control; preserving their anonymity entirely or daring to ‘come out’. In the broader discussion of the timeline of recovery, the boards act as a barometer of healing.

Reproduced with kind permission © Grace Brown/Project Unbreakable