Rape and the artist

Writing

Commissioned piece of writing as part of ‘Let’s Talk about Sexual Violence’ at the University of Leicester. See more about the exhibition and project at www.talksv.uk

Commissioned writing as part of 'Let's Talk about Sexual Violence'

‘You Did This to Yourself’ as part of Let’s Talk About Sexual Violence, University of Leicester, February 2019.

Photography

I’m pleased to report that my piece You Did This to Yourself has been shown as part of an exhibition and project at the University of Leicester, ‘Let’s Talk About Sexual Violence’.

A big part of the project is a paper publication and the website which act as platforms for the art, practical advice, and factual information (challenging many of the myths which provoked me to create You Did This to Yourself in the first place).

I also contributed a written piece, ‘Rape and the artist’, which I hope I will be able to share with you soon. For now, check out www.talksv.uk

It shouts at me in dreams

Are we ‘seeing’ sexual violence?

Photography

How do we visualise sexual violence in this ‘#metoo‘ era? I will be (partially) attempting to answer this question later this month at the International Conference for Photography and Theory.

The media narrative seems to be that much is changing (or about to change), but I’m not so sure. Looking at the photographic history, we are seeing a re-run of previous ‘survivor’ focused stories and images. However, new ground is being tentatively broken by a few photographers and publishers… and their methods could prove better at affecting legal and political change than our current way of envisioning sexual violence.

I’m seeking any publication or platform that might be interested in publishing some of my research (a series of blog posts?). If anyone has a clue or lead, please let me know.

I hope to share more about my research, but for now, here’s my piece, ‘You Did This to Yourself’ [Trigger warning: sexual violence] from 2011. For the conference, I’ve updated and re-explored the research I did back then. Even ‘post’ #metoo (as media pundits like to say), I think the same fundamental problems that I identified here exist in our cultural representations of sexual violence – preventing us from defeating it.

You Did This To Yourself from Madeleine Corcoran on Vimeo.