Safety Matters
49cm x 47cm x 21 cm
Description
Wooden wall cabinet with flower-patterned glass front. Inside hanging on hooks at the back, Ten found/lost keys on key rings with small soft, faceless dolls made from children’s vintage fabrics. On shelves, one small doll (1950s), a folded linen bag with something inside and plastic ‘Do not open’ strap around it, folded-up blue child’s apron with stains
Themes, comments & storylines
Safety is an aspiration, but yet an illusion. Safety warnings on plastic bags, safety catches on guns, safety belts, safe houses, safe sex. Better safe than sorry – yet the safety of some is the sorrow of others. Locked in, up, away, out – the weight of safety can be a heavy burden for the vulnerable. What is the relationship between power and safety?
Haunting accounts of child abuse, Elisabeth Fritzl, Sharon Matthews, Baby Peter, abuse by parents, teachers, Catholic priests in Ireland , Germany and many other places, relentlessly emerging. Disturbing statistics. What lies behind appearances of respectability.
“I would be awoken by their shouts and would lie in bed terrified and confused. After a while, I would go and sit on the top of the stairs and listen to them shouting. When I heard the fighting start, I would go downstairs to the lounge and try to get in between them to stop them fighting. I remember being so small and powerless as I tried to push my Father off my Mother and separate them. I remember coming down one night and seeing my Mother lying on the floor with a bloody nose. I was scared and SO confused. Being so young, I just didn't know what was going on and couldn't understand why he wanted to hurt her like that. Although my Father never once hit me, i felt as though he was hurting me indirectly by hurting my Mother and principle car giver. I also remember my mother taking me by the hand late one night and we ran out of the house to get away from him. I was barefoot and in my pyjamas. We ran across the lawn, but I don't remember where we went. I have memories of my Mother from a very early age doing normal stuff (sewing, being with her in the car) but I don't have any 'normal' memories of my Father until a couple of years later, after they'd divorced.”