The handwritten text fragments used throughout this installation are drawn from conversations, workshops and group sessions developed in collaboration with women supported by Trafford Domestic Abuse Services (TDAS). Over a fourteen month period, I worked alongside women attending support groups and refuge services, listening to the language that emerges within lived experiences of coercion, survival, memory and recovery. The words and phrases appearing on the ceramic objects are not presented as complete testimonies or direct narratives. Instead, they are fragments of speech, partial sentences, repeated thoughts and unfinished reflections that sit mid-conversation. This deliberate incompleteness reflects the difficulty of articulating traumatic experience, whilst also protecting anonymity and avoiding the extraction of personal stories for display. Domestic rituals sit at the centre of the work. Plates, vessels and teaware become objects through which repetition, care, routine and control are explored simultaneously. The work considers how coercive language and behaviour can become embedded within everyday domestic life, often operating quietly behind closed doors and hidden within what appears outwardly familiar or ordinary. This installation exists because of the generosity, trust and courage of the women who contributed to these conversations. I remain deeply grateful to everyone who allowed me into these spaces and whose words, experiences and presence have informed the development of this work. ​​​

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TDAS is an independent charity supporting women and children affected by domestic abuse. Their work relies upon funding and charitable support. Further information can be accessed via the QR code below.

 

 

Paula Meir - 2026