"Thread of Resilience" is a collaborative and interactive art installation dedicated to veterans who have experienced Military Sexual Trauma (MST). This project created a safe and supportive space for these veterans to share their stories, fostering a sense of community and healing.
The installation uses photography, conversation, and red thread as powerful mediums to visually represent the interconnectedness of their experiences and the strength that comes from shared narratives. “Thread of Resilience” will be on display in the Main Lobby of the Northport Veterans’ Hospital for a month-long exhibition that celebrates the community and resilience of our veterans.
April 1st, come out and meet the talented Veteran Artist behind the project and learn about the inspiration behind this powerful display. Don’t miss this chance to connect and honor our veterans through art.
The veterans were interviewed and asked questions about their experience with MST. Their responses were recorded and included in the installation. Some of the questions asked:
o When do you first remember experiencing shame?
o How did you hold onto it? Where do you feel it in your body?
o How did it affect your pleasure?
o How do you ask for what you want?
o What are you connected to?
o What is something you want to let go of?
o What is something you think is important to share about your recovery journey MST?
o What services, resources or people helped/helps you during your recovery?
o How do you express your gratitude?
Because all of the responses were not included in the installation, but are still powerful and need to be shared, here is space dedicated to sharing with intent to connect.
READ MORE OF THE RESPONSES BELOW:
“Shame can make it easy to become your mistake. Shame can make it easy to become what’s done to you.”
“I hold it (shame) in my shoulders, and I feel it in my private region. A lot... so I still have issues. I'll go to the doctor and will think I have an infection and it's psychosomatic. My brain is doing it to myself because even though I don't sit around ruminating subconsciously about my traumas, it'll still come out in other areas. Back pains, headaches. So yeah, I feel it in my body and through how my body responds.”
“I feel so connected to this whole project…. it’s therapeutic in the sense that it's bringing pain to light that people can identify with and feel okay about themselves because of what happened to them also happened to others. They don’t have to feel so alone.”
“Shame affected my pleasure because I would commit a sexual act… but there was no pleasure in it. I didn't want them to enjoy it, I didn’t want to enjoy it. I wanted to control it, use it as a way to avoid my past and control my pleasure.”
I didn’t experience much shame after yah know? I know a wrong was done to me. It happens to so many people, the magnitude of the situation is, is incredible. Um, so because it's such a prevalent problem in the military, I'm not alone and you're not alone, and any shame I felt was taken away by the fact it's an institutional crisis and the blame should not be on the victim… the focus should be on the remedy, it should be in allowing people to report the incidents and not to blame the victim through that experience.”
“It actually took me a while to get a good therapist… actually took me almost 10 years. Don’t give up on finding someone who can help you.”
“I just want to say to whoever's out there going through this... I don't know why this happened and why it still hasn’t stopped. But I understand your confusion and my prayers and thoughts are with you.”
“The first time I was assaulted, one of the other women in my dorm had let him in while I was in the shower. She set me up because she wanted other women to be like her, so after that I didn't ... I couldn't trust anyone. I couldn’t get any help while I was in there, so I didn't bother until I got older.”
“I want to let go of the excuses to not get better and the resentment. I want to let go of the Why’s? Why I couldn't do fight during or after… or Why do I let my experience in the military get to me so bad? Why can’t I let it go? … Yeah, I want to let go of that.”
“After being assaulted, it affected my role as a mother… and society judge’s women who don't present well or mothers who don't do well…”
“Most of us are pleasers and don't want to feel like broken goods because something like this happened to you… because something happened to you that you couldn’t control but now you have to control how you respond to it… so you search for ways to make it easier for other people to handle, to please them through your expression of pain.”
“I still carry a lot of shame because it hurts to see how my experiences with trauma lead me to hurt or traumatize others.”
“It hurts. Being hurt in every place that preaches trust, hurts. I was hurt by my family, in the church... Made it hard to trust.”
“I want to let go of that darkness that's under the surface- that no matter how small I try to make it, it's still there. I don’t want to be afraid of men… I want to let go of that energy. Because, going through that I feel like watching my son, go through the things that he's went through is because I held on to the dark energy for so long that it's now carried through onto him. When I saw my son suffer with that energy, I wanted to and want to let go of it even more…
I did a lot of exposure therapy because I know I needed to create associate positive interactions... I still do. I have to do it so that I'm just not fearful of everybody who looks like the men who hurt me because it wasn't everybody who looks like him who did it. I think that was the biggest thing that has helped me and will continue to help me let go”
“I'm connected to my faith… it’s what has helped me to set my boundaries… by these principles, I developed my values and morals, and I became a nurse. By helping others, I help myself…I'm confident about this.”
“To their credit, the VA is not hiding this anymore. It's the right time to get out and seek help from the VA.”