Seven Eight Five

Nicole Wilson

Degree: MFA

Area: Photography

Thesis Statement

Seven Eight Five is an autobiographical look into the cyclical nature of domestic abuse inside the home and questions the home as a place of sanctuary. The wall is an extension of the body and the violence to it is an extension of one’s self. The imagery included in the work focuses specifically on the private home of the individual to explore topics of trauma, mending, and the belated experience and impact suffering has to the body and the mind. Pieces of drywall are painted, broken, photographed, mended, and damaged again in an attempt to repair back to a state of undisturbed space. The wall symbolically represents strength as a barrier, but what happens when that barrier is broken and safety doesn’t exist anymore?

By documenting the physical state of the wall, visual evidence is shown in a systematic or indexical way much like a document for criminal investigation. However, the wall is not a found object but a representation of a violent event. Images of space provide context to the walls once inhabited in the home and the violence that occurred. Fleshy organic objects haunt the space’s violent history and connect the survivor’s existence in the abused spaces.