A powerful exhibition featuring artwork produced by the victims of domestic abuse will be held at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Cambridge on Wednesday, 2 October.
Sharon Livermore MBE, of Cambridge-based Domestic Abuse Education, has been working with ARU to provide information and training to raise awareness amongst students, and is helping ARU host the event to mark the start of Domestic Abuse Awareness Month in October.
The most recent Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates that 1.4 million women and 751,000 men, aged 16 years and over, had experienced domestic abuse in the 12 months to March 2023. At 8%, a higher proportion of people aged 16-19 had been victims of domestic abuse than any other age group.
ARU has trained five student domestic abuse ambassadors whose role is to both raise awareness of the issue and signpost the internal and external support that is available to any student who needs help.
The art exhibition – called Breaking the Silence: Art Against Abuse – will feature two pieces of work by Holly Ringrose, who paints portraits of women who have lost their lives due to gender-based violence.
Holly’s pictures are all unfinished, to highlight lives cut short, with Holly painting each portrait for one minute for each year the women lived for. The other work on show, which includes poetry as well as art, has all been produced by survivors of domestic abuse.
Domestic Abuse Education have been working on projects with ARU’s student domestic abuse ambassadors, and Sharon has spoken at events on campus aimed at students and staff. Sharon, who herself is a survivor of domestic abuse, said: “It shouldn’t be necessary to have to hold this exhibition, but sadly this issue isn’t going away.
“For ARU, talking about domestic abuse isn’t a ‘tick box’ exercise – they really are leading the way compared to many other universities. As well as having an excellent Counselling and Wellbeing Service and five student domestic abuse ambassadors, ARU has a specific policy on domestic abuse and has held conferences dedicated to gender-based violence. ARU should be commended for their work in this area.”
The exhibition on 2 October (11am-4pm) is open to the public and will take place in room LAB 027 on ARU’s main East Road campus in Cambridge. Also attending on 2 October will be over a dozen frontline support services, who will be there to provide expert advice and information.
These include Cambridgeshire Police, Cambridge Women’s Aid, Peterborough Women's Aid and their B-United project offering help to male victims, the Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre, the Kite Trust supporting LGBTQ+ young people, Cambridgeshire County Council's Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence partnership, and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.
Suzanne Drieu, Head of Counselling and Wellbeing at ARU, said: “Unfortunately, domestic abuse is a societal problem and it can affect people regardless of their age, sex or background.
“The aim of holding this exhibition and inviting the different services onto campus at this point in the academic year is to ensure everyone is aware of the support available. This is particularly important for those who have relocated to the area and left behind their existing support networks.
“ARU’s Counselling and Wellbeing Service is available to all students and offers confidential counselling, mental health advice and wellbeing support. We can also liaise with internal and external specialist services to help students at any point in their academic journey.”
