Cycle

Artist Statement: “Alaska has some of the highest domestic violence rates in the nation. Statistics show that women in Alaska are three times more likely to experience domestic violence compared to the national average. More then 12 million women in the US experience physical, sexual and emotional abuse from a romantic partner, which is 1 in 4, while more then half of Alaskan women have experienced that kind of violence. The cycle of violence in abusive relationship doesn’t just affect the victim, but also the child (if there are any involved). Children who witness abuse are more likely to get into abusive relationships, whether they are the abuser or the victim. Children get into relationships they see and grow up around. And if that is an abusive one, that child’s future is at risk.
I chose to make a fountain to represent the 4 stages of the cycle of abuse, stage one being the “calm” stage where someone might think everything is fine or that is what’s shown to the public’s eye. Stage two is the tension build up, where the abuser tries to find anything they can to start a fight or control the victim. Stage three, the outbreak or abuse stage where the actual abuse, be it physical, emotional, or sexual, happens. Stage four is the reconciliation stage , where the abuser makes up excuses, gives gifts, or traps their victim into staying in the relationship. Each tier of my fountain represents the stages of abuse with cracks running down and up the foundation due to the inability of working as a healthy relationship should. My work is a functional fountain, and the water runs behind the statues sometimes going between cracks and other times overflowing.“