 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
As a fifteen year old I was sexually abused by a man who was fifteen years older than myself for over three years. I paint who I am, because of this experience and the many other experiences since that time. As in many cases of abuse, there were parts of the circumstances that were positive. Although I have had many years to put this part of my life in perspective, it is a permanent part of my history and it hasn’t just gone away. I am now 50 years old and he is 65. Recently he told the one woman who had knowledge of the abuse, that I and another young girl (age 13) had “chased after” him. This woman had protected him in the early 1970s and today she believes that we, as teenagers should have said no to this man. I believe he knew that we were emotionally vulnerable and used that vulnerability to fulfill his psychological needs. I know where this man lives but I do not want to ever see or talk to him. At some level he believes he was taking care of me and that what he did was good. What he did was wrong. In my paintings I believe you will see searching, seeking, and questioning of our experiences in the world around us. There is an overall theme in all my work, that deals with the complexity of life and the decisions we make and those that are made for us.
View the artist's 2005 Art of Recovery work
|
