Survivors Stories was a project completed in June 2014 as a collaboration with The Collins Center during my time at the Old Furnace Arts Residency in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
The project consisted of three parts:
Create Your Story - Survivors Workshop
Description: Participants shared their experience through their own creativity and artistic expression using the process of printmaking, guided by the artist.
We are all statistics: Children of Harrisonburg - Public Art Project
This public art project used the 2013 data from the Collins Center's Child advocacy center. For each abused child assisted by the center, the artist drew a hopscotch court in the downtown square of Harrisonburg. Each court was filled with symbols, letters, and numbers that represented the demographic information relating the the cases. In total there were 152 Hopscotch courts drawn with chalk over the course of two days.
This piece is a part of the larger ongoing project We are all statistics.
Share Your Story - Interview Based Project/Work
Description: Participants who are both survivors and advocates were invited to sit down and interview with the artist, about their lives and experiences. Based on these interviews the artist created a series of new work, where the interviewee, the collaborative organization (in this case the Collins Center), and the artist each received a print resulting from the process
The Collins Center models and promotes the prevention of child sexual abuse, and provides excellence in sexual assault response and treatment in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. The Collins Center serves the community through its programs: Sexual Assault Crisis Program, Prevention Programs, Treatment Programs, and the Child Advocacy Center
Old Furnace Arts Residency is an ongoing artist project curated by Jon Henry. The residency is located in Harrisonburg, Virginia. It is open to all forms of artistry: sculpture, painting, video, sound, conceptual, poetry, fiction writers, critical theorists etc. Special attention is given to practices which are focused on social justice and being socially engaged.