DVAM '17 Showcases Survivors' Art

    FFOYA House hosted its second annual Domestic Violence Awareness Month Art + Music + Literature show to benefit the Barren River Area Safe Space on Oct. 13, 2017. Wet-Eyed Liars (Bowling Green, KY) and Chew (Atlanta, GA) performed, several writers and poets read their work, and the gallery was open for the BG Gallery Hop. 
    The gallery exhibit featured artwork by area artists Lee Alcott, W. Paul Carter and Amanda Vickous and artisan, Amy Jessup of Neo Peasant Revolution, who makes ecologically sound flannel menstrual pads. The show also featured work produced during the FFOYA House art and writing workshops held in the summer and fall of 2017 in partnership with BRASS and Hope Harbor, Inc. Visual artists Chloe Lee and Courtney Davis worked with writer Amanda J. Crawford to lead the workshops for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence and volunteers from all three organizations. The workshops and show were supported by an Art Meets Activism grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women.
     The artwork as well as writing from the workshops was also featured in an issue of the FFOYA House zine. Be sure to check out the zine here!
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Amanda Vickous, “Broken.” The mannequin represents the physical marks left on us. The black handprints are the visible wounds; the bruises, cuts, burns, etc. The gray handprints represent the people in our lives who know about the abuse and say or do nothing. Finally, the blue handprints represent those people who reach out to heal us: social workers, domestic violence shelters, family, friends, counselors, clergy, etc. The photo next to the mannequin is a self portrait taken after a PTSD induced panic attack due to a traumatic event. The artist wants people to see and understand that not all the marks of abuse and domestic violence are visible.

W. Paul Carter, “Masks 1,2, & 3." We all wear masks every day. That's what the artist is examining here using the ancient tradition of the death mask and death rituals. The viewer was invited to wear whatever mask calls to them and speak, loudly, their truth.

Portraits from "Amazing Me" workshop led by artist Chloe Lee & writer Amanda J. Crawford. Participants were asked to visualize moments in their life in which they felt empowered. Then they created self-portraits inspired by those thoughts. From top left: A.J. Crawford, M.A., Ashanti, Ariana Michaela, Chloe Lee, J.C. (See more in zine.)

Lee Alcott, “Woman Who Talked to Stones.” This photograph captures a theme of transition, survival, and power. The artist's work with battered women for over 30 years, as an art therapist and an administrator developed a discourse on creativity, imagery, healing and resiliency. When voices are silenced, bodies are broken, memory is lost, and one’s spirit is twisted and splintered, transitional objects become treasures.

"Lifecycle" and "Healing Mandala," small murals for BRASS by FFOYA House volunteers: Meranda Caswell, Alayna Milby, A.J. Crawford, M.A., and Ariana Michaela.

"Finding Beauty," large murals for BRASS created by artist Courtney Davis and painted during a FFOYA House workshop by Demetria D. France, Connie K. Kingrey-Knapp, Ke-Ke, NK, Pattycake, Jessica Hodge, M.K., Denise Merriweather, M.L.G., Amanda Duggar, Zoe, and Courtney Davis.