Lino Printing Trauma

I carved the alphabet from the lino so I could create innumerable sentences. It was a tense experience knowing what I would be writing on the shirts. The text that is inherently violent in connotation is highlighted in red. The act of pressing the lino into the shirt is a violent act. The force of the printing process connotes to the violent nature of the text itself. The shirts are printed on with the text on the front to create a confrontation with the viewer. Putting a face to the trauma, which is normally portrayed as a statistic.

Continuing with the pillow-case which is associated with rest and sanctuary. However sexual trauma often occurs on the bed. The thoughts that occur at night are printed into the case, which is deflated. The lack of comfort connotes to the loss of safety in the bed. This pillowcase was used when I was abused in my bed.

Using the same lino print text, I printed onto a bedsheet. The bedsheet is clean, but the thoughts that plague the mind of the previous events stain the sheet. The text reveals my incoherent thoughts of my trauma whilst trying to get sleep. The violent words again are printed in red.