Domestic Violence Objects (1994)
For this series of images, I worked with the Portland Police Department's Domestic Violence Reduction Unit. The text in each panel was taken from public domain records, which means that the case was closed. In the DVRU offices, there was a filing cabinet filled with police reports documenting cases of domestic violence in Multnomah County. I was interested in researching precisely how much domestic violence was occurring in my community. While reading the files, what became clear was that common household items were transformed into weapons. Things such as brooms, newspapers, boiling water and table lamps morphed into objects of brutality.
Each image and its accompanying text panel is printed on cotton rag printmaking paper using the platinum printing process. The syntax errors in the text panel are deliberate so that the text becomes challenging to read and is reconstructed into a shape that fits the page. The names of the persons involved have been replaced with "A1" (assailant 1) or "Co" (complainant) to not only protect the identity of the parties involved but also to underscore the universality of domestic violence.