Childhood Sexual abuse, Survivor, Repressed Memories, Art and journalling as a lifesaver.

[Blossladybird50]

I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse from my father and also grandfather. Repressed memories started to unfold whilst in my late thirties. Not fully understanding them I started to use art as a format, gradually over years this transpired into over 100 artworks, initially of anger, destruction, self-harm, multiple personalities, revulsion, pain and horror. But slowly came the catharsis, one of unimaginable transformation into strength, victory, release, an a claiming of my true self. I also displayed some of these artworks  at a conference in 1996 on Sexual abuse by professionals. 

My extensive collection of works includes a range of mediums:

• Visual Artworks (100+) that creatively explore and document my journey from realization of memories of childhood sexual abuse, betrayal of psychiatric professionals and eventual overcoming. Critically, the artworks express a transformation that leads to strength, power and determination.
• Journal entries that capture in depth perceptions of how fragmentation and multiple personalities occurred, emerged and eventually reformed and dissipated. 
• Poems that creatively express emotions and thoughts throughout my personal journey.

I would love to share my story and collection of works to not only demonstrate the damaging effect and trauma from violations and abuse, but to also demonstrate that there is a path to releasing, adjustment, healing and moving on. This is a vital and essential progression to demonstrate to the community that sexual abuse, control, manipulation has to be more clearly recognized, discussed and “put on display” to encourage understanding, confrontation, changes and greater recognition. 

Any suggestion or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[sbella02]

Blossladybird50,

Wow. Your post is really powerful. Thank you so much for sharing and I hope you can find empowerment in this community as well.

I'm so sorry to hear what you've been through. What a demonstration of inner strength to be able to turn such an awful experience into something magical. That's what I love about creative expression, the ability to communicate a horrible story in such a unique and beautiful way. 

Here would be my best suggestions if you're looking to get your work out there and connect with others who may either have similar stories, resonate with your works, or be creators of their own similar works:

• Artworks you can always enter into various competitions or shows. Websites like Gallery247 can help you to increase the reach of your artworks, as well as exposing you to networks of people who can help you display works you'd love to show to the community.
• Journal entries - places like Reddit can be good for sharing those kinds of works, as well as social media in general (keeping in mind that censorship can make that difficult in some cases). There might also be local writing competitions who would be happy to engage with your pieces. 
• Poems - similar to the above. Try reaching out to local writing groups, competitions, or social media groups and see if they'll be willing to engage. 

I really hope this helps. On a larger level, it could be interesting to reach out to motivational speakers with similar experiences to you to hear their opinion on what you might be able to do or where you might be able to take your works. I'd say reach for the stars in terms of what's possible here. You might even decide to get into motivational speaking yourself. 

All the best, SB