This October, the Pool Art Center here on campus is hosting a new display in the gallery. This display is called Standing Together. The artist who created this is Randy Bacon, and for this project he took portraits of domestic abuse survivors and shared their stories. This exhibit was in collaboration with Harmony House, a nonprofit organization who provides shelter and support to those who either have experienced or are experiencing domestic abuse.  

Harmony House’s headquarters are located here in Springfield Missouri. They are open 24 hours and offer several services including a crisis hotline, and even court advocacy. This organization was started in 1976 by members of the local community. To donate either your time or money to this cause, you can do so at their website www.myharmonyhouse.com. The crisis hotline can also be found on this website.  

This was a very emotional experience; this isn’t your typical “art’. There are several pictures of people around the room with plaques with their story next to them. The people in the pictures are all very different, and there are even multiple people in some. There were also TVs playing videos of some people telling their story as well. 

Reading these stories was gut-wrenching to say in the least. They were very sad and seeing the pain in these people’s eyes in their portraits only made the whole thing more intimate. It really helped you understand that this affects people in the long term, that this is more common than you would like to think and that this impacts the survivor’s life, and potentially their family’s lives as well. 

There was one part of this display that sticks out from the rest, it is an empty portrait next to an empty plaque, and the title of it was “The Untold Story”. This was a very powerful piece because it reminds everyone visiting the exhibit that this could be happening to anyone, and that many people stay silent to survive. The display was very powerful, next to it was a place where people can show their support for victims of domestic violence. 

This display was beautifully put together, the amount of respect and care that went into giving these people a voice is incredible. The response from visitors seemed quite positive as well, there were several messages of support and kindness left for people to add on to, or to inspire other to leave their own as well. 

Randy Bacon did an excellent job of capturing the emotion, and the newfound joy that these survivors experienced as a result of escaping their situation. It is obvious that he cared very deeply about this topic and wanted to help spread awareness.  

If you or anyone else you know is currently experiencing any form of domestic abuse, please do not hesitate to seek advice through harmony house, or if it’s a life threatening situation, call the crisis hot line. It can be incredibly hard to know what to do in these situations, especially because attempting to leave or get an outsider involved could make it worse. This is why it is important to spread awareness about these situations, and to have organizations like Harmony House to offer advice and help to people in need.  

Article by Sophia Meek