Repair Yourself

‘Repair Yourself’ follows my journey as a survivor of sexual assault, specifically the effects it had on me personally. When I came forward with my story and experiences I found that so many other women that I knew had similar experiences, but we never talked about it. Not just the events themselves, but the feelings of shame, guilt and grief afterwards. There is a toll something like this takes that no one tells you about, something that lasts for years, whole lifetimes. I decided to share that part of my recovery. I use a number of visual metaphors to explore the intangible; distortion, disruption, comfort, exposure, damage and repair as parallels to trauma and recovery. My process is very hands on, working primarily through photography, editing and then straight to the machine and handwork processes. I incorporate heritage craft work in my designs, such as darning to bring a unique and organic repair aesthetics into my textiles.