What Lurks in the Shadows: Emotional Residue at the Intersections of Image and Text in Participatory Practice.

Brett, Karen and Coplin, Nicola (2026) What Lurks in the Shadows: Emotional Residue at the Intersections of Image and Text in Participatory Practice. In: The Inaugural International Women’s Writing Association Conference, 17th - 19th June 2026, Falmouth University. (Unpublished)

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Abstract / Summary

This illustrated paper presents a participatory arts project between photographic artist Karen Brett, creative writer Nic Coplin and West Cornwall Women’s Aid. The work in this project was created by and for women who have fled domestic abuse and are continuing to rebuild their lives with extraordinary resilience and courage. Each woman’s unique journey was documented in a zine using a blend of photography and creative writing. At the close of the project participants went on to curate an exhibition of their images at The Exchange Gallery in Penzance, to coincide with the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence.

The photograph is a strange but powerful place where time is frozen, paused, creating opportunities for thoughts, feelings and reflections to emerge. As a creative tool, photography provided a space which participants could explore and articulate their feelings with honesty and authenticity. Drawing on Peter Wollen’s observation that “photography is like a point, film like a line” (2003, p.76), the photograph can be understood as a point of departure – a place where participants begin to navigate their personal journeys, memories and lived experiences. However, a photograph can only take us so far, and the spaces between images can be filled with words. We experimented with various forms of writing and much of the work fell into poetry ‘for it is through poetry that we give name to those ideas which are, until the poem, nameless and formless-about to be birthed, but already felt.’ (Lorde, 1985).

The real significance of this project was that we each entered into it without expectation; both facilitators and participants. The common goal was to address the issue of survival from domestic abuse with a particular focus on housing and the resettlement process within Cornwall, but what we could not know when we began the process is that the work produced at the end of our time together would be so beautiful and so profound. This paper examines the relationship between image and word and what is found in between.

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