It happened at a Safe Place
Globally 81,000 women and girls were killed in 2020, around 47,000 of them (58%) died at the hands of an intimate partner or a family member, which equals to a woman or girl being killed every 11 minutes in their home.
Less than 40% of the women who experience violence seek help of any sort. Less than 10% of those seeking help appealed to the police.
We create art stories
To high light that risks of violence against women can often exist at places that are supposed to be safe such as home or public places, by the people they often know and trust, "Project Safe Space" aims to produce an art collection that portrait the environments where these traumatic events happened.
These environments are the spaces that are supposed to be safe in the general public’s perception, but are also where abuse and violence happens in real life, such as home, school, work place …
With the key message “It happens at the places you know, by the people you trust”, the project will produce a series of interior portraits or landscape paintings visualizing the spaces where violence took place, without the presence of any human.
These pictures will emphasize the ordinary and familiar feeling of the scene, but through a skewed perspective, from how the victims remember it when the event happened.
This is to provoke the sense of familiarity of the viewers about the scene, at the same time creating an emotional experience of unexpected disgust, violation, sadness, and sorrow, which are micro experiences of what the victims went through at the time in their own stories.
The collection focuses on raising awareness about what needs to be done to keep safe places safer, to look deeper into each of our surroundings and share empathy with the silent survivors around us.
We provide accessible and professional therapy
To recreate such powerful but painful memories, it is important to create a safe space for the real-life survivors to talk about their trauma while engaged in this project.
Using a therapeutic co-creation process with the participants, the project provide free group therapy sessions as a platform for the victims to talk about what happened to them, process the impact of the event on their lives and start a healing process with professional mental health practitioners.
The process will be led by an art therapist, qualified in assessing, guiding and healing the emotional state of trauma survivors. The therapist will then make decisions and suggestions on actions to take for the benefits of healing for the participants.
By providing professional help and providing a platform for victims and survivors to find their voice, to have their stories told and heard from their perspectives, the project hopes to empower women to heal their pain, break the limitations that these traumas may have imposed on their lives, and move on towards building a fulfilling life.
The final artworks created through this process will be used in public exhibition to raise awareness about violence against women. Future art sales and profits will be used to provide free mental health support for women trauma survivors.
Who can participate?
People who have been victim of sexual harassment, abuse, or gender violence, can share their stories about the trauma they had experienced through a guided co-creation process led by a professional therapist.
Please reach out to us and apply via the form below if you are:
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A trauma survivor of violence, violation or abuse
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Above 18 years old
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Identified as women
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Can communicate in English
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Can commit to a minimum of 6 group therapy sessions (1 session per week for 6 weeks)
Participants can remain anonymous, but are required to share details of context, place, time of the event where violence took place. This information will be used by the artist to produce the final artworks to be used in public exhibition and art sales to fund this project. No descriptive or personal information will be made public without consent of the participants.
What will happen during the project?
Express of Interest
The form only takes 5 minutes to complete and is completely free for anyone to sign up. After receiving the responses, we will contact applicants via the email provided to inform about the next steps.
First Introduction Meeting
Get to know us
This is a 30 minutes online private meeting with our team for you to get to know us and the project. We will ask further information about your background and health history to determine how we can best support you through this project.
Confirm Participation
It is your choice
After receiving all the in-depth information from the first meeting, you can decide whether you would like to join the group therapy sessions during the 6 weeks support. There will be legal documents in place to protect your data and privacy. We can only work with a group of maximum 6 participants every 3 months to ensure effectiveness of the therapy sessions.
Group Therapy Sessions
6 Weekly Sessions
Selected participants will receive group therapy sessions with the minimum of 6 weekly sessions or more over 2 months. You will be assessed to which extend the trauma is affecting your daily life, mental and physical health, relationships, etc and together with our therapist the group will create goals to remove emotional blockages. There will be exercises between sessions to help you achieve their personal healing goals.
Final Sign Off
Your story will be heard
The artist to produce the final artworks inspired by your story to be used in public exhibition to raise awareness about violence against women. Future art sales from these artworks will be used to fund this project. You can choose to remain anonymous at all time throughout this project. No descriptive or personal information will be made public without your consent. You can also choose to stay in touch with your group participants to continue supporting each other after the project.
Fequently Asked Questions
Can I join this project if I am currently in an abusive or active violent situation?
At this moment we can only work with survivors whose trauma happened in the past.
If you are currently a victim or wish to report an incident, call your local helpline or police department to receive immediate help, or email us at hello@milienguyen.art and we will try our best to direct you to the right people who can help you in your specific situation.
Will my identity be revealed if the final artworks be displayed in public?
You can choose to be anonymous through out the entire project both to other group participants or to the public. Your personal information will be protected at all time and will not be revealed to any third party or to public media without your consent.
Can I join this project if I have never talked about my trauma before?
Yes, the purpose of this project is to provide you with a safe space to talk about your trauma when you don't have any other outlet. We understand it can be painful and difficult to talk about this with your loved ones, that's why we provide professional help to guide you through your healing process.
Can I join this project if I have had therapy before?
Yes, if you wish to advocate for your stories or no longer have access to the help you need, this is the space for you. We will ask you to share any past diagnosed mental health history with our therapist in order to best support your therapy process.
What will happen after the therapy sessions finished?
Our therapist will determine if it is beneficial for you or the group to continue therapy after 6 group therapy sessions. You can remain in contact with us and the group for further support if you wish. Shall you require further therapy support beyond our professional capacity, we will redirect you to the right resources.
How do I purchase the artworks to financially support this project?
There will be announcement on our website once the production of the artworks has been completed. Make sure to subscribe to our mailing list to receive the most up to date information about our project.
Have more questions?
Take Action
And Get Involved
A safe space for trauma survivors to receive professional mental health support and advocate for their own stories.
Here’s How You Can Join
After submiting the form, we will contact your email for more information about the next steps of the process.
At each open call, we can only work with up to 6 participants to ensure the group therapy sessions can be effective.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email us.
If you are currently a victim or wish to report an incident, please call your local helpline to receive immediate help.
For more information:
Here’s How You Can Support
Once the artworks have been completed we will launch the collection online with the original and digital prints for sales. All the profits will be reinvested in the project to help provide more mental health support for more trauma survivors who don't have access to professional therapy services.
Make sure to subscribe to our mail list to be up to date with the progress of our project. Also comment, like and share our social media content to help our project reach the people who may need it.
About Us
We are passionate artist, psychotherapist and trauma survivor ourselves. We believe survivor stories are powerful and empowering, they deserve to be shared and heard. From our hearts we create this space for you to heal, shall you need it.
