Evan
Hiltunen
Vortex
photographic print, 16 x 20" |
Child abuse lasts a lifetime. It lives beyond the pain of the
moment and creates years of fear and trepidation.
Something unseen breaks inside the child, something beyond
spirit (which may be mended through time and love). It is
something tangible and real … it exists physiologically.
The ‘something’ broken is faith and trust. The
inherent connection with other human beings is crushed. An
abused child never feels a sense of home. They lose their
roots, if they ever had any, and always feel displaced. There
is always a knowledge of being different, of being fragile.
An abused child, no matter how old they grow, is always shadowed
by the loss of what comes so naturally to others. We don’t
join groups and we’ll never be homesick, but we’ll
always ache for a home.
We feel the loss of connection and try to reestablish that
connection through art. You may never understand, or even
know, my childhood, but when you share in my art, or my food,
or my writing, you share with me and, for a very brief moment,
I am connected.
In loving memory of my sister,
Donita Hiltunen
1966-1984, suicide
Victim of abuse |
