Art / exhibition
New art exhibition explores childhood trauma recovery
A new immersive exhibition is currently on display in the Galleries.
Project Becomings by Victoria Christodoulides was inspired by her own experiences of trauma recovery services, which she has found to be challenging and restrictive.
The PhD student at the University of Bath said: “That was kind of my main inspiration to start it, to hopefully help others not have the same experiences that I had.”
Victoria hopes that by having the exhibition in a public space, people will recognise that “recovery isn’t something that happens in silo”.
Victoria Christodoulides has created a new exhibition inspired by her own experiences of trauma recovery services – photo: Amelia Banfield
She added: “The environment, the people around us, the spaces that we’re in, the objects that we engage with are a massive part of how we understand the world.
“Recovery isn’t all doom and gloom, it’s an ongoing journey that we are constantly learning more about.”
The exhibition began with a research study of ten adult survivors of childhood trauma.
They took part in a series of focus groups, workshops and independent tasks to develop “outstanding and evocative” pieces for the exhibition.
The research and Victoria’s exhibition is based on having recovery be understood and practiced beyond, without disregarding, traditional narratives.
Project Becomings runs at the Galleries until Sunday – photo: Amelia Banfield
Visitors are invited to engage in some of the research methods used in the project, with thread work, body maps, stop frame animation and drawings, which can then be added to the exhibition.
“It’s been amazing to see the effort that people have made to come in and engage with those. We had a fantastic launch event with a really good turnout,” added Victoria.
“I think it’s been met really well. I’m really proud of what the whole team has put together.”
The exhibition is open every day in the Galleries from 11am to 6pm until Sunday.
Main photo: Amelia Banfield
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