2022 Reclaiming Voices Survivor Art Show
What plays in my mind
Vicki
The things that people said that kept me silent or what they said when I told. It can be maddening.
boundaries
Sherri
I release my emotions in my art. I want the viewer to feel their own emotions. I want you to look at art with your soul and see what you need to see. Which is what I love about abstract painting.
Self Embrace:
Healing the Wounded Within
Lea May
My name is Lea May. I am an artist, a survivor and an advocate for inner healing.
no means no
Marie
As a survivor, I use my artwork to raise awareness and have my voice heard.
untitled
Elizabeth
This image was drawn when I was 17 years old, just before I was trafficked for the first time, but after I had been raped, assaulted, and used by a multitude of men. Healing from that dark time has taken decades, and is still a process, but I am now a professor and director of a nonprofit which serves survivors of sex trafficking. We have all felt so small and unsafe and alone- but together, in a community of survivors, we can grow and heal and thrive.
blossom
Anonymous
You deserve to be loved, you deserve to blossom, and you deserve to grow.
Elephant Tribe
Michelle
While being at Cherish House I met Reclaim13 mentors and they introduced a discussion about elephants and how unique they are - when a mother elephant is giving birth the rest of the elephants surround the mother to protect the baby and the mother from danger. Reclaim13 was similar in that the unity, community, and sisterhood protect all within.
connecting to the inner child
Debbie
I want you to know is that even when we think there's no way, it turns out that there is a way. When we think that we're alone, we're not, because God is with us. Sometimes we feel worthless and think that God must not care about people like us.
Untitled
Cherish House Resident
I'm 17 and was trafficked for 8 months and a lot was stolen from me. I was trafficked for so long I lost my sense of self because of the mental abuse I suffered. Art is a great form of self-expression…
Untitled
Chelsea
Facade
Autumn
She feels like she can never be herself,
She always has to force a smile on her lips,
She feels like she is falling apart inside,
with no one to reach out to.
Beauty From Ashes
Kendyl
Through my art, I specifically wanted to capture how even after abuse, healing and beauty can still be found, as this is the narrative I have seen in my own life…
untitled
Giorgia
Layers of Hope
Anonymous
The Singer
Vera
"The Singer" is meant to be an expression of my experience with PTSD…
Divine Soul
Anahi
…My work represents the three different phases that I created for myself to understand how to cope and break through from trauma. These are to let go, accept, and redefine my soul.
Untitled
Sara
Sara Sadat is a visual artist strongly influenced by the community, especially scenes from her upbringing of the Arboretum Village in Lisle, Illinois…
Her work now is motivated by the preservation of communal conversations, dialog and study of movement and through her painting she seeks to advocate for the counteraction of careless approaches and to draw attention to the isolation and solitude of her own healings as a domestic abuse survivor.
What I remember them Saying
Carmen
This piece of art that I created, triggered/inspired by the #metoo movement, may make you uncomfortable…
Hope
Lena
I thought I was destined for a dark path. What could have ended in death brought me to the light and gave me hope.
Untitled
Cherish House Resident
My family and my little brother inspire me and also Jesus Christ inspires me to paint and express myself through art. It’s important to me to have a good heart and to be kind and love others because that’s what Jesus does and that is what my family does for me no matter what. Being aware of sex trafficking is very important to me because I have experienced it myself. By letting people know about it and learn about it they will know more about me and what I have been through.