The Secret Ocean: A Story of Domestic Abuse

November 1 - 26, 2011
The Secret Ocean: a story of domestic abuse

Works on Paper by:
REINHARDT SOBYE

with Illustrating Text by:
IDA HAGEN

Public Reception:
Saturday, November 12th: 5 - 8pm.
Free and open to the public.


"The Secret Ocean," a series of large-scale photographs manipulated with charcoal and pastel, visually describe one woman's emotional journey through domestic abuse, sexual violence, marital manipulation, divorce, and finally independence. The photographs are exhibited with corresponding illustrative text by Ida Hagen. For example, along-side Sobye's work "The Distant Fire" Hagen describes,

"After leaving, I believed the worst would be over. How wrong could I be! Now that he could no longer rape me, he found other ways to control me... Just when I thought he could not take anything else away from me, he took the children."

Not only does "The Secret Ocean" depict the private world where abuse takes place and the suffocating feeling of being drown in despair and hopelessness, it also presents a rise to the surface, an emotional state where the pattern of abuse can be broken and the victim reclaims her power. Hagen explains,

"It is not only my abuser who wants me to stay quiet, the system does not like me discussing these issues either. Solicitors, judges, police, always recommend that I become somehow invisible and act in a complying manner. I know telling my story will be used against me. But no matter how sensible and willing I am to lie down subdued, it will never be enough. Reactions and punishments are unavoidable, and until I realized this, I really was the victim."

Sobye and Hagen arranged for the presentation of "The Secret Ocean" in three galleries across the globe; Gallery Ramfjord in Oslo (Norway), Box Heart Gallery in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), and Toho Gallery in Tokyo (Japan). Out-spoken advocates of social justice, Sobye and Hagen aim to expose how victims of abuse are denied fundamental human rights.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Reinhardt Sobye
• Box Heart Gallery
• Pittsburgh arts
• photography
• works on paper
• domestic abuse
• violence
• manipulation
• freedom
• social justice
• human rights
• emotional journey
• secret ocean