Bex
Participatory Portrait
She was
a liar
She reported what happened to her. She was called a liar.
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Bex survived two abusive relationships, both of which ultimately became matters for the courts.
From 2020 to 2023, she says she was kept prisoner by her partner. After she fled, the abuse didn't end. He stalked her for months, contacting and threatening her, and later threatened the baby she conceived after leaving him.
During her pregnancy, Bex entered a relationship with someone who had been her best friend for years. She believed he was safe. He promised he would be a good father to her son, but Bex says he went on to abuse them both.
Last summer, she says he strangled her in an attempt to kill her. In the aftermath, Bex had a nervous breakdown and lost much of that summer to what had happened.
And yet, when she reported a man widely regarded as a “lovely lad”, Bex found herself labelled a liar, an attention seeker and a victim.
A year later, she describes herself very differently. She's a practising witch, a single mum planning a summer of fun with the little boy she adores, and, in her own words:
“I’m more than a victim. I’m a bloody survivor.”
THE DESTRUCTION
Trapped
About the Work
2026
Acrylic paint on canvas
I painted strangulation marks around Bex’s throat in reference to the attack she survived, then placed thick black bars across her portrait to represent the years she says she was kept prisoner by a former partner.
The bright background of the original portrait has been dulled and darkened, reflecting the place she was in during those years. But Bex remains vivid behind the bars. They obscure her and contain her, but they don’t erase her — she survived, escaped, and reclaimed a life beyond them.