Throughout my experience in an abusive relationship, I felt extreme isolation and shame. I believed no one I knew could understand what I was going through, and if I shared my story I would carry the stigma of an abused woman for the rest of my life. Now, years removed from my experience and making publicly shared work that draws from that time, I understand that I was never alone.
1 in 2 transgender persons, 1 in 3 women, and 1 in 7 men will experience abuse from an intimate partner in their lifetime; we are literally surrounded every day by people who contain hidden stories of domestic violence. And yet, we almost never hear first-hand accounts from those we know and love. There is too much shame and secrecy, and I believe that needs to change. I have seen what can happen if we speak our truths aloud. I have seen the empowerment that comes from sharing one's own experience and the freedom that comes from the reciprocal acknowledgment of something so deeply personal.
I invite you to become a part of one such moment by sharing your story.
In the responsive installation Brynn Hurlstone: Resonance, on view at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art from September of 2025 - January of 2026, I wish to make visible the voices of those who have experienced intimate partner abuse and hold space for moments of release, support, and connection.
Resonance will invite visitorss to engage with vessels that contain personal narratives of domestic abuse, creating the centerpiece of an immersive and interactive space vibrating with visible presence and the desire to speak. Sheets of printed writings will be dissolved in water-filled glass vessels, where the plasticized text releases from the paper to float freely in abstracted but recognizable word forms and disconnected letters. Throughout the duration of the installation individuals are invited to engage with the glass vessels and their contents using kinetic plates and their own body movements, spilling the water and dissolved writings into process drawings on steel. This conscious engagement frees the stories to become one-of-a-kind and ever changing rust prints, living records of transformative connection.
If you would like to anonymously share your story for inclusion in Resonance, please submit it via the form below. I am immensely grateful to you for entrusting me with your experience.
Add Your Voice
Share your personal experience with domestic abuse for anonymous inclusion in Resonance, the upcoming installation at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg. If you would prefer that your word order be shuffled for further privacy, you can use this text converter before pasting your text into the field below.
About the Exhibition
On View at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art 9/07/2025 - 1/04/2026
Brynn Hurlstone: Resonance is an interactive exhibition that addresses the pervasive, yet often unseen, issue of domestic violence. A transdisciplinary artist, Hurlstone uses reactive materials—steel, glass, water, salt, silk, cotton, paper, and wood—to create an environment that “is alive, in continual transformation, and activated by human presence.” Visitors are invited to accept or refuse multiple levels of engagement: as they step on steel plates, water spills from spotlighted glass vessels, forming rust drawings that slowly weaken the steel beneath; the gentle breeze created by walking through the space ruffles delicate silk panels, slowly fraying their edges over time; books of poetry printed with rust and bound with silk sutures can be picked up, examined, and contemplated to further uncover the stories that fill the exhibition.