All In The Family
A Rolling Conundrum
(tag 92)
2016
Assemblage (60” x 22.5” x 14.25”)
- phonograph sound horn
- bottom half of old suitcase
- Old Grandad bourbon counter display
- lock and chain manufactured by Climax Lock Co.
- photograph
- screws
- silent alarm remnant
- copper wire
- rolling table
Artist description:
Child sexual abuse is a crime and has lifetime effects. It includes any interactions between a child and an adult in which the child is used for the sexual stimulation of the perpetrator or observer. Child sexual abuse is often predicated on silencing the victim, maintaining secrecy regarding the relationship, and as a result, reporting and disclosure is low. About 93% of children who are victims of sexual abuse know their abusers. The younger the victim, the more likely it is that the abuser is a family member. Of those molesting a child under 6 years old, 50% are family members. Often the adult family abuser, when caught, will try to avoid responsibility saying they were drunk or high on drugs.
Here we see the perpetrator is the grandfather. The artist uses a store countertop display for the OLD GRANDAD brand of alcohol. The counter display features a flip calendar with instructions to the shop keeper on the backside to ‘turn top slowly toward yourself’ to change the date shown on the calendar – symbolic of what the grandad probably requested of the grandson. There are a couple of lose screws seen at left. The lock and chain represent the power and control the perpetrator has over the victim.
