The Woods Are Not Always Safe

Trigger Warning
Please bare in mind that although not explicit, the contents of this story could be triggering.

Although this book deals with a heavy topic, it was approached in a conscious manner for the child, ensuring the message isn't too abrupt with no explicit images physically shown,, but any adult reader should understand the underlying message.

The Woods Are Not Always Safe Immersive Installation

The experiential installation is a development piece of my picture book retelling of 'Little Red Riding Hood' as a narrative of childhood sexual assault, it explores traumatic experiences and raises awareness of sexual assault in the hope of helping others to speak up about their own experiences. Within the space, the audience is characterised as neither the victim nor the abuser, instead unfolding a story of survival and hope. The experience consists of two main rooms and a corrdior, all in which include projection of artwork onto the walls.

Room 1

Room 1 has a woodland setting to indicate where the assualt occured, with small animations of birds and a phonecall audio playing in the background. The phonecall is a conversation between Red and an advisor; she is actively seeking help and speaking up about the assault.

Room 2

Room 2 has a sky setting with imagery of sunflowers and light beams as well as an animation of hands releasing butterflies that fly up into the sky and out of frame. The audio in the background is a poem reading by Red showing that she finally feels free of her abuser. Room 2 will hopefully help the audience to recognise and show that there is hope for a way out and an ending of situations like this that you might experience.