Camilla hears ‘heartbreaking’ accounts of domestic abuse at I Am portraits exhibition
THE Duchess of Cornwall heard “heartbreaking” stories of domestic abuse from survivors as she viewed an exhibition of their portraits.
Yesterday, Camilla met photographer Allie Crewe and the subjects of her I Am project – a series of portraits of domestic abuse survivors which will be on show in St Peter’s Square in Manchester and across the city’s Metrolink network as part of the SICK! Festival.
In a speech at Manchester Central Library, the duchess said: “The photographs both incredibly moving and inspiring.
“Moving because of the depth of pain and loss that the survivors have endured at the hands of those who claimed to love them, and inspiring because these photographs show us how survivors can, and do, take back their own identity and their own stories, which have too often been eroded and taken from them by the abuse they have suffered.
“Part of the power of these photographs lies in the fact that the images are not of victims as we might have supposed but, in the words of one of them, ‘strong, feisty, brave survivors, changing the journey from victim to victor... making it smoother, shorter and never lonely’.”
Camilla said the stories she heard were “heartbreaking” but “not, by any means, unique”.