During clinical contact, I encountered a young, homeless woman with extensive medical issues unusual for her age. The nurses carefully explained to me how homelessness, trauma, and violence had all had a role in impacting her health. Angered by how the system had failed her, I researched the disproportionate impacts on mental and physical health issues associated with homelessness. What stood out to me, as a woman, was how common sexual violence against homeless women were. I wanted to create a piece that expressed the impact of sexual violence.

As echoed by the book ‘The Body Keeps The Score’, regardless of how deeply victims of sexual violence wish to bury the memory away, the memory is burned into the flesh; despite all of the mind’s efforts, the body remembers. To depict this as a physical, visible manifestation on the body, I portrayed the woman as porcelain pottery—once shaped and fired, it has permanently taken that form. Initially, I planned on drawing cracks and crevices to represent the lasting impact of trauma. But then I asked myself: why should trauma permanently define survivors? Instead, I opted to illustrate an informative narrative on the effects of trauma.

Using a style that mimics fine china patterns, I drew a dragon that wraps around her arm, two tigers, and a python mating ball. The python mating ball— a phenomenon where female python is tightly wrapped around by male pythons for mating, cruelly preventing its escape— symbolises the predatory violence experienced by women in vulnerable conditions.

Secondly, two tigers are drawn side by side. The left tiger is alert, trapped in fight-or-flight—while the right tiger sleeps, representing the hope for a peaceful rest, wishing to be able to put its guard down. Survivors are often trapped in a ‘fight or flight’ stress response—the chronic elevated cortisol levels has damaging effects on health in the long run. This impacts the quality of sleep, which further deteriorates both mental and physical health.

This experience required me to dive deeper into understanding how mental trauma manifests, which I believe will help shape dealing with sensitive topics with patients. Through researching for my creative piece, I was alerted on the importance of a patient-centred approach, especially in homeless women, as it requires multifaceted interventions to truly tackle each underlying issue. This creative process helped me rethink how sexual violence should be perceived as something that has shaped survivors, but should not be treated as a defining experience, as it overshadows the complexities of their personhood.