Domestic Violence Survivors Find Healing Through Art Showcase

Warning: This article contains references to domestic violence that may be distressing to some readers.

Elizabeth (surname withheld for privacy reasons) hadn't picked up a paintbrush in years.

All her energy had instead been spent on protecting herself and her three children from the suffocating weight of domestic violence.

It's a darkness that's visible but not all-consuming in Journey to Freedom, her first paintings since leaving.

"I haven't completely eliminated the darkness in the pictures because it never fully goes away," Elizabeth said.

"But you learn to survive and you learn to move forward."

Her paintings won Most Inspiring Artwork at a domestic violence art showcase at a women's centre in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.

About 80 artworks were on display, created by women and children affected by domestic and family violence.

One painting submitted by an 11-year-old girl shows a sad face with two hearts alongside.

"I've seen my mum and dad fighting and it made me sad," the description reads.

Sharing the 'lost voices' of victim-survivors

In Queensland, more than half of all assaults reported in 2022-2023 were categorised as family and domestic violence.

Nationally, one in four women have experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner or family member, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Much of the true impact of family and domestic violence, beyond the statistics, is reflected only in the words of victim-survivors.

Belinda Vadalma from the Women's Wellness Centre said it was "safe to say" that everyone had been affected by family and domestic violence, even if it wasn't directly.

"Whether it be through a loved one or a friend, someone they know, or experienced it themselves," Ms Vadalma said.

In Toowoomba, she said, between 60 and 70 women accessed the Women's Wellness Centre, run by Mercy Community Services.

"We see women come in just broken," she said.

"But they find the strength to rise up after some terrible, terrible things. Not only that, but they do it while taking care of their children."

Ms Vadalma said it was one of the counsellors who had the idea for the art showcase.

She said it was to honour the voices often lost amid reporting of perpetrators and court cases, especially those of children.

"The bravery that it takes for some of these people to submit their artworks," she said.

"We like to keep their story safe and sacred because that's theirs, and they've given us the privilege to share their stories."

Art as healing

Kerry (not her real name) created her artwork in a place of "grief, rage and profound disillusionment" after the end of her court case.

"My abuser walked away with everything he wanted while I was left carrying the unbearable weight of abandonment and just utter defeat," she said.

Her piece, Flayed, represents how she felt "stripped raw by institutional failure".

"My file was lost during the investigation for various reasons, and requests for support just disappeared into silence."

"My piece speaks to the loneliness of surviving violence, only to be further wounded by the systems surrounding it."

She said creating the piece for the showcase was a healing process.

"I decided to put paint onto paper so that people could look at it and have an insight into my experience."

"It's incredibly powerful to be seen, to be heard, and to be felt.

"As a survivor, it's that tiny piece that allows you to just move forward and close that door behind you."

'No-one deserves to live in fear'

Across the room, slips of paper are strung to the branches of a rotten tree trunk.

"No-one else will want you or have you."

"I didn't throw it at you, I threw it in your direction."

"If you hadn't of spoke [sic] to the police with lies, there wouldn't be a DVO."

The anonymous creator wrote that the pieces of paper were all said to her by her abuser.

At the bottom of the trunk, purple flowers bloom from the soil.

"The words no longer control or intimidate me. They are not a reflection on me but on his behaviour," the description reads.

"I may have the scars, like the decayed trunk … but I have my spark back, blooming and growing like the flowers."

"No-one deserves to live in fear."