Falmouth lecturers collaborate with West Cornwall Women’s Aid to facilitate exhibition in Penzance
24 November 2025
Unsettled is an upcoming exhibition that showcases the strength and resilience of women rebuilding their lives after experiencing domestic abuse. Designed and led by Photography BA(Hons) Senior Lecturer Karen Brett, the project was created as a supportive, participatory space in which the women could develop their own photographic and written work.
Karen facilitated the sessions alongside Creative Writing BA(Hons) Lecturer Nicola Coplin, with both lecturers holding space and supporting participants as they produced all of the creative work featured in the exhibition.
Set to launch at the end of November at The Exchange gallery in Penzance, the exhibition will run until January and has been created in collaboration with West Cornwall Women’s Aid. It is set to be a powerful exhibit that raises awareness of the challenges women face and the need for safe housing solutions.
Reflecting on the project, Karen shared: “The most important part of the project for me was witnessing how photography and words became a language of healing and of being heard. It began with quiet conversations between us (the facilitators and the participants featured) that gradually transformed into physical artefacts of lived experience and creative resilience.”
She added: “The exhibition aims to shift public perception and recognise the strength, dignity, and capacity for transformation of survivors and those who support them throughout their journeys.”
Throughout the exhibition, the creative mediums of photography and creative writing reflect the lived experiences of women who have fled domestic abuse and those who support them. The photography draws on the reality of life in temporary accommodation while capturing the loss of privacy, strains of communal living and hardships of refuge. Through words and imagery, the participants demonstrate the strength, imagination and determination required to rebuild a sense of home.
Presented as a series of zines and photographs, the exhibition amplifies each participant’s voice and perspective, shining a light on the role creative expression can play in the process of recovery.
Rhiannon Jones, Services Coordinator for West Cornwall Women’s Aid, supported the project throughout.
She commented: “It’s been fantastic to collaborate with Falmouth University on this project. The facilitators have shown real sensitivity and empathy throughout, creating a safe and supportive space for women to express themselves. Art can be such a valuable outlet for processing trauma, and this project has offered that opportunity in a deeply meaningful way.
“Too often women are placed in emergency accommodation that’s unsuitable or unsafe, in environments where substance use is prevalent and where they don’t feel secure. This can seriously undermine the trauma-stabilisation work done during their time in refuge.”
The exhibition will be open for visitors from 25 November 2025 to 3 January 2026 in The Exchange, Penzance.
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