Dark Silhouette

Helen Heslop, ‘Control’ installation view, 2023. Image courtesy of the artist.

Helen Heslop

Gallery 3

Friday 19 April - Sunday 12 May

Opening Thursday 18 April 2024, 6pm - 8pm

This series consists of four works that reflect the experiences of (particularly) women in abusive relationships.  The works highlight the ‘abuse cycle’ phases from love-bombing and abuse, through to escape and healing. 

The works reference quilts which are meaningful as symbols of domesticity, the feminine and stability. We are most vulnerable when we sleep and we assume a human right to be able to sleep safely. In abusive, coercive controlling relationships, however, sleep deprivation and hours-long nighttime rages are common abuse tactics.  In these relationships, the bed is often the contested site of power, control and abuse, characterised by fear and vigilance rather than rest and security.  The first two quilts are double size, referencing life as a couple. The second two are singles, referencing life after the separation.

The work is made from paint swatches. The manufacturer has given each an imaginative title - such as “Dark Silhouette” - designed to conjure memories and to elicit an emotional response in the buyer, and ultimately a sale of that colour paint. Colour plays an integral part of our sense of wellbeing in the domestic space.  Yet the words can bring up other, unwelcome memories - these have been captured as responses to the titles and printed on the swatches. Each work has a number of these vignettes, written to shed light on the lived experience of women in each stage of the abuse cycle. 

While the stories in this work are written in first person, they do not form an autobiography. They have been gathered from many women’s stories shared publicly in articles, books and social media posts.

About the Artist

Helen Heslop is a Canberra-based contemporary artist whose works delve into the intersection of social issues, trauma and healing, pattern and repetition through a blend of sculpture, digital collage and assemblage. Her work explores a range of relevant social issues including trauma, feminism, gender, impact of colonialism and climate change.