Etching and pastel on paper, 46 x 38cm
In this hybrid etching and pastel drawing the figure is situated behind the eyes at a remove from the audience to suggest an interior condition and position. There is a link to body armouring of trauma – the body keeping the score being a familiar term in psychology. It seems that the condition was linked to embodied trauma and these women did not have a voice either in their treatment or in society – they were only able to express this in a non-verbal communication – in the guise of illness.
