The intention of the Arts Lab is to provide ways to:
- engage with lived experience insights about violence and abuse beyond relying on the written word.
- illuminate participants descriptions of their lived and living experiences in resisting and responding to the violence and abuse they have been subjected to.
- generate new visual representations of violence in public imagery that centre on dignity and are informed by lived experience insights.
Our thanks to every person who has generously shared lived expertise of violence and abuse to inform and strengthen social, service and systemic responses. We acknowledge that despite our best efforts to listen to lived experiences of violence and abuse, we can never fully understand all that a person’s experiences mean to them now or through their life. We understand that lived and living experiences can never be fully represented in language or any other form.
Our thanks to collaborating Artist Louise Whelan for her ongoing generative work with Insight Exchange since the inception of the Arts Lab in 2020.
Specific collections and initiatives
On this page you can explore the Voices of Insight Collection, the No Hidden Door Collection, the Strangulation Collection and the Working with distressing content collection. Other original works created by collaborating artist Louise Whelan in response to donated poetry are featured on the Voices Unsilenced landing page.
Other Arts Lab initiatives: Explore The Creative Book Exchange.
Voices of Insight Collection
The Voices of Insight Collection is a series of original artworks inspired by the Insight Exchange Voices of Insight. The initiative is designed to illuminate visual metaphors and symbols used by Insight Exchange participants as part of how they describe their lived experiences of domestic and family violence to inform social, service and systemic responses.
Read the artist statement. Read about the Voices of Insight Collection with collaborating Artist Louise Whelan.
Apply to exhibit the Voices of Insight Collection in Australia
Insight Exchange has a donated Voices of Insight Collection available to loan (terms and conditions for use apply) in NSW, VIC, SA and QLD. Examples of where the Voices of Insight Collection has been exhibited are listed in the the Engagement Report .
To loan the Voices of Insight Collection (in a mobile gallery format) please complete the booking form. When we receive your booking - we will confirm (or decline) subject to availability on the dates selected. If you have a question please feel welcome contact us via the Contact Us page.
No Hidden Door Collection
The artworks are designed to illuminate the importance of making the ‘door’ of responding services/organisations more visible to the public, and valued ongoingly by industry as a social response to victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexualised violence.
The No Hidden Door collection created by Louise Whelan in collaboration with Insight Exchange. Open the No Hidden Door collection in a lightbox by clicking on the collection below.
The No Hidden Door collection is part of the broader work of the No Hidden Door initiative.
No Hidden Door Artist Talk
View the artists talk (8.5mins) or read the artist statement
"I’m so honored and grateful for this beautiful, complex and thoughtful art work. It blows my mind how your art work could speak so beautifully and yet in an unsettling manner of the complexities, danger and hope for help. I was thinking why (besides the beauty of the art itself) was I so moved and wanting to re-watch and re-watch...? Probably lots of reasons but I guess while listening and watching, we/I, the audience are suddenly transformed into 'doors'. Because the watching poses not a question but an interpellation: Who am I faced with at this door and the women outside/in-between the doors? What kind of door am I? How would I respond? How have I been responding? I also treasure that the pieces put me immediately in contact with the actual world, the materiality of the world and not the mind. It transported me to my surroundings and the attention to the doors around. Everyone is a door, no one should assume safety. I also really appreciated that you guide us through each piece. I don't have the schooling nor the intuition to “understand art” so it was a beautiful experience to actually experience the art with your telling. Thank you so much for creating this and putting it out in the world!" Tania - Mexico (2022)
Strangulation Collection
Adeline's lived experience insights about being subjected to strangulation are featured alongside the five original artworks by collaborating artist Louise Whelan in the Arts Lab Strangulation Collection (below). Click on one of the images below to open the collection in a lightbox.
This collection can be viewed on the strangulation landing page and is embedded in the Module - Understanding and responding to strangulation.
Working with distressing content collection
The Working with distressing content booklet features a series of original artworks created by collaborating photo media artist Louise Whelan. The artworks can be viewed with the accompanying lived experience quotes in a lightbox. Click on the image below to open the lightbox. Explore more on the Working with content landing page.
