Beating Hearts, stories of domestic violence é um projecto fotográfico inspirado em histórias verídicas de violência doméstica, documentados por duas mulheres activas na prevenção da violência doméstica: Kate Sartor Hilburn e Terrie Queen Autrey, ambas de Louisiana.
Em parceria com o fotógrafo/artísta Sartor Hilburn foi criado um corpo de trabalho que retrata em termos visuais e verbais, histórias e experiências de pessoas que conhecem e 'sentiram na pele' de que algum modo a violência doméstica. Em algumas das peças o objectivo é apenas providênciar informação e respostas às questões: porque é que a mulher fica?, por exemplo. Em outras obras conseguiram criar o retrato da víctima e o que ela sofreu. Os testemunhos variam em idade, género, origem e nível económico. As histórias são enquadradas em janelas e portas, representando as estruturas da casa.
Este projecto consiste na construção de fotos largas e pequenas com texto a acompanhar, algumas são construídas em cima de caixas de luz, enquanto outras são peças totalmente tridimensionais.
He doesn't hit me very often, so I guess I'm not really abused. He does other things. Like when he polishes his gun for hunting, he'll point it at me and say, "One wrong move, Roberta...and pow!"
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| The Good Wife |
Or he'll pinch me, real hard, bad enough to leave a big bruise. When he's not happy with something, he won't say anything, but when he walks by me in the kitchen, he'll pinch the fire out of me.
The latest thing is I can't eat with him at supper. I'll fix his plate and serve it to him at the table, but I can't eat at the same time. He has a stool from the kitchen that he puts in the doorway, and I'm supposed to sit there until he finishes. If he needs something else, or if his tea glass is empty, I should jump up and take care of it. When he's through he just leaves. Then I can fix me a plate.
Am I a slave girl, or his wife?
Why doesn't she just leave?
It's the first question people ask.
She stays because she hopes it will get better. Maybe they can get help. Maybe she will make him happy again. Maybe it will stop.
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| Why Women Stay |
She stays because she is ashamed that they have come to this, that she has allowed him to treat her this way, that she has taken him back so many times before.
She stays because she doesn't have enough money to start all over
again. She hasn't held a job before, or she doesn't earn enough to support herself and the kids. She's scared to try to make it alone.
She stays because she is afraid. He has told her that she had better never try to leave him. He says that he will find her no matter where she goes. He says that he'll take the kids and run. He says he will track her down and kill her. She knows that he means it.
