Domestic Violence is my latest cartoon subject. It has taken me quite some time to finish because of its content. It is a true story for me as I was a victim of a cruel man that i was once married to. I look around me on different art sites and it seems that most people draw and paint about aesthetically pleasing stuff that people praise… and it’s preferred that no one talks about very real, not so pretty works of art that draw attention to the nasty and cruel. This work is very important to me. PTSD is very real through traumatic experiences such as these. This was in the late 80’s and women had very little legal protection because of the patriarchal system that we had. It still is very much male dominated but at least women can get some help now. I am a lot older now and it does not get any better. This man violated my body, my mind, and taught me to do things that I do not like doing. .. and that is that I carry a dreadful …. for this man, and will never forgive him. He taught my children through lies and brainwashing to leave my mothering.. He dislocated my jaw, and ruptured my eardrum, he kicked me, and mentally worked on me, gaslighting me into thinking I wasn’t worth living, and that I had no intelligence, gaslighting me to an inth degree of wondering if there was a God, or love in this world. Wondering if I was sane or insane. These people, I believe, slowly disintegrate others. It is, I feel, a slow way of destroying another.
It is something a lot of people do not understand and it is really not for anyone ‘normal’ to understand where I am coming from. But those that have been there do know. I have always been in touch with a psychologist along the way in my life and I still see one for the anxiety that reeks my Id upon occasion. I was told by my son to ‘Get over it Mum, it was a long time ago’, but trauma like this never goes away. It just has to be dealt with. Handled…and I do.
I will be continuing other stories in my life which some, I feel will be brazen at times. As one psychologist said to me: ‘Draw and do your art, and do this as Art Therapy’. This work is probably some type of art therapy in a way, but it is also a way to tell my very real story. My qualifications tell me it is very real art- from the heart.
