I Painted To Understand Why People Stay In Abusive Relationships

This is an ongoing series of paintings trying to represent the complex question of abusive relationships.
The name came when I heard about the #WhyIStayed trend on Twitter. It is important to see why a person would stay for sometimes even years in an abusive relationship, be it romantic relationship, family or friendship.
All of my painting work is my way of trying to understand and have empathy towards the issue that is being portrayed. We have to stop judging and thinking of abused individuals as weak and/or similar, life is not that simple and relationships are some of the most complex parts of it.

While the media is trying to frame the issue as sensationalism, we need to step back and try to understand and empathize with the victims.
Knowing life and love are not black and white, if we look deep into our selves, we are doing many compromises in relationships that might be considered emotional or physical abuse in another culture.

My goal is to erase the taboo and stigma surrounding this issue. Be the victim male, female, child or adult, it needs not to be swept underneath the rug.

All of the work is oil on canvas, meant as an interesting way to reinterpret a viral phenomenon that lives in virtuality in a traditional manner.

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