2nd November 2012 - Danae Thyssen

“Behind Closed Doors” provides a useful reference in terms of genuine insight, as the premise for these works, which are inspired by true stories of domestic violence. The creation of a body of work that retells in visual and verbal language the actual real-life stories and experiences of various women

Graduates Exhibition - This body of work explores the topic of domestic violence, a sensitive and controversial subject. As an artist, I believe it is our role and responsibility to initiate conversations on various topics, to evaluate and challenge societies perceptions. Generally there is a real ignorance around this topic and the facts of what constitutes as abuse. This series combines art with storytelling in what I hope is a visionary, if not controversial approach with a poetic and prophetic response using somewhat sensational imagery.  The intention is to assist the viewer to feel and understand the essence and gravity of the problem of violence against women by looking at the problem with a fresh perspective, creating a new dialogue to help heal and transform through raising awareness.

Artists such as Nan Goldin, Tracey Moffett and Anna Gaskell have been instrumental in the approach for  this work, for fundamentally different reasons. Although inspiration has come from various other sources, it is Goldin and Moffett who in particular provided the initial context for my exploration of   Domestic Violence within art. There is one particular colour photograph of the artist Nan Goldin looking directly at the camera with both eyes swallon and bruised, the left filled with intense red blood in the white of her swollen eye which mirrors the shade of her lipstick. Although she has obviously suffered some kind of physical damage, she appears well groomed with glossy hair, adorned in earrings and necklace. This image marks a particular period in Goldin’s personal life and the conclusion of a long-term relationship, providing an emotional climax. “I want to show exactly what my world looks like, without glamorisation, without glorification. This is not a bleak world but one in which there is an awareness of pain, a quality of introspection' (as quoted by Goldin in The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, p.6).  As I researched Goldin and various works of the artist, it was more specifically the ideals and themes explored  within  many of her work that held a particular interest.

“I often fear that men and women are irrevocably strangers to each other, irreconcilably unsuited, almost as if they were from different planets. But there is an intense need for coupling in spite of it all. Even if relationships are destructive, people cling together. It's a biochemical reaction … love can be an addiction. I have a strong desire to be independent, but at the same time a craving for the intensity that comes from interdependency. The tension this creates seems to be a universal problem: the struggle between autonomy and dependency. The Ballad of Sexual Dependency begins and ends with this premise … I'm trying to figure out what makes coupling so difficult.” (Quoted in The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, p.7.)

Photographer Tracey Moffatt is another artist whose work initially informed the direction I took with the series “Behind Closed Doors” and assisted the context in which my images could be appreciated. It was the skilful and consistent use of text in Moffatt’s Scarred For Life series that held  particular relevance.  Moffat’s use of abrupt captions that  depict and toy with the premise of memories implying traumatic stories that serve to support the images have been of specific interest and has been influential in my initial approach. Moffatt’s dramatic, yet sometimes ambiguous imagery combined with terse and unexpected text create a visually intriguing, but disturbing experience. A supurb example of this is the image ‘Birth Certificate’, where the young girl gazes vacantly from dark shadowed eyes in the direction of the camera, lost in contemplation over something obscure to the viewer with both hands clutching at a piece of paper, its content concealed from view. It is an unsettling image, but the viewer is unsure why until reading the accompanying text, which upon its revelation leaves a terrible sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.



Intrigued by this effect, I interviewed many women from various backgrounds who had experienced domestic violence and used excepts from these interviews to accompany my images to magnify both the emotional and visual response. Through the use of text, my intention was in part to simply provide information or answers to questions such as “Why do women stay?”whilst at the same time to create a confronting portrait of a victim, which clearly indicates the abuse she has suffered.   The images confront the viewer with the startling reality of what life is like for women in these situations. Unlike Goldin’s approach, my images were presented against a plain black background to emphasise isolation and the depth of the tragedy of DV. However the faces are lit, to indicate hope, a coming out of the darkness by revealing the truth. To create an additional dimension to the works, I ensured that of the many women photographed for both my initial and final series, one in three of them are actual victims of abuse, as in reality the statistic indicated are a fact. However, as in life often society is unaware of who arethe real victims of abuse. 

The works of Artist Anna Gaskell have also been an inspiration for my current series of works.  Gaskell’s work is fascinatingly innocent and disturbing all at the same time. Unlike my own series where I use women from 18 – 44 years of age. Gaskell generally uses all adolescent girls to create a sense of innocence that she then distorts through her use of lighting, framing and subject matter. Gaskell creates these nightmarish scenarios with the use of visual distortion and casting. The young adolescences are specifically costumed and positioned in curiously macabre, somehow sadistic poses creating a discomfort regarding feminine agency and sexuality, along with the unthinkable taboo of corrupted innocence which inturn generates feelings of tension and anxiety. All elements that have inspired my approach.

I was also intrigued by Gaskell’s interest in probing into scenarios and questioning those moments in-between the narratives, when the characters begin to understand that things might not be what they first appear and the happy-ever-after may not be inevitable as first anticipated. After all, not all dangers will be overcome and not all injustices can be set right. In real life, the endings are not always happy.

As my own work has progressed, I have become interested that Gaskell does not represent her subjects as individuals, but more so as generic characters to epitomize the anxieties of all adolescent girls and exploit the contradictions and desires of a single psyche.

Whilst maintaining the same subject matter and medium with which I began this series, the final artworks for this assignment have taken quite a different direction to where I had initially intended.  After some consideration, I decided to take a more ambiguous approach that would draw the viewer in before the startling reality of the underlying concept becomes apparent. Once they are already engaged with the image making it harder to look away regardless of how uncomfortable the topic. Initially I advanced along the same vein as Goldin and had a far more documentary approach, but with the added narrative, that was fondly used by Moffatt in the Scarred For Life series. As I experimented throughout the process, I found I was more interested in hinting at the prospect of abuse, rather than documenting it.

Although my initial images were successful and received very positive feedback, I felt that because of their blatant approach they could be somewhat alienating to the viewer because they were so confronting and the sad truth is often the public does not want to know. The idea of violence being less obvious and more of a vague suggestion encourages the viewer of their own accord, to look more closely. Inspired by the hint of something more sinister, but delivered with ambiguity as demonstrated by artists such as Gaskell, I have experimented more freely with what I would include in the frame. Gaskell, has clearly verified that what is included within the frame is as important as what is eliminated from the image. The absence of detail can disclose as much as what is included.  Just as Gaskells use of body parts is employed to communicate a sense of subjugation and psychological disconnection, so too was the intention of my approach, by eliminating the identity of the individual photographed and by featuring repeated portions of the body in similar poses by each woman.  My images do not represent the individuals photographed, but function as a means to convey the challenge and conflict of a solitary experience that through being witnessed becomes a shared awareness.

This psychologically loaded subject matter presents aesthetically beautiful images of vulnerable women illuminated by soft natural lighting which softens the harsh reality where the psyche is in question, or has been splintered and oppressed by perverse acts of violence. The delicate flesh of various women photographed are draped in soft, sheer, flimsy fabrics that draw the viewer in, enticing them with an elusive invitation to gaze upon their seemingly perfect flesh until it is interrupted by something darker, ominous, disturbing . Only as the viewer allows their gaze to linger and looks more closely do they notice that something is amiss. The vulnerable figures and their soft, feminine curves are marked in some way with hints of redness, subtle bruising or scarring that whispers of something more sinister. The images have been photographed against a muted pastel blue background, to enhance the soft velvety texture of the skin and enhance the delicate nature of the figures. There has been attention to the form and use of negative space which further add a sensual, intimate allure to encourage and draw the gaze to the image.

The photographs are not tied together in any linear sense; moreover as though the unsettling events have all take place simultaneously, in the ever-present. Therefore the ‘before’ and ‘after’ within each image is eliminated, allowing potential interpretations to multiply. The tantalizing images clearly have voyeuristic elements that tempt the viewer to remain engaged with the subject rather than turning a blind eye as would usually be the case in situations of abuse because individuals don’t usually want to become involved. In this scenario the viewer has become part of the experience and can no longer fain ignorance. This approach to the subject also serves to extend awareness of how these women have been drawn into these relationships. Just as the viewer has been visually seduced, so too are women in abusive relationships, lured by the charm of the perpetrator and promises of something more, the fairytale.

My intension was to focus on the interplay between fantasy and reality to expose the ugliness and the harsh truth that sometimes intimate relationships are not all they appear to be, if we are willing to scratch the surface. By raising awareness of the complexities within these types of dynamics, then possibly the shame that keeps woman silent or trapped in abusive relationships can be eradicated in order to encourage women to speak out and become empowered. It is my hope that upon viewing my final series that the audience leaves the exhibition with a greater empathy and heightened understanding of the complexity of abusive relationships. Then in turn, provoke thought, raise questions and forge conversations through a new found awareness to promote social change.