One of the first items BJ Armstrong ever sold as an artist was an abstract painting centered on the feminine experience. Swirls, smudges and hard lines in shades of red and black helped her work through the painful emotions she was harboring.
“I included things like makeup, a little bit of mascara, a little bit of nail polish,” Armstrong said. “I spent a lot of time being kind of rough, letting the materials dry and not worrying about everything being precise. It really showed me that art can be an outlet."
The piece was created for the first-ever RISE Survivor Art Show, a platform allowing Coloradans to reclaim their experiences with sexual violence and break the silence that so often surrounds them.
“When I first did the show three years ago, it was to get out that rage,” Armstrong said. “Now, I want to focus on showing survivors that things can change. There can be joy; there can be moments of reprieve and release.”
The art show is put on each April by the Blue Bench, a Denver-based sexual assault and prevention center.
“As much as [RISE] is about these violent acts that occur, it's also about the resilience and the right to joy that people have coming out of these experiences,” said Blue Bench interim executive director, Michelle Wiley.
This year, the show features artwork from 90 unique survivors of sexual violence at M&D Artistries in Denver’s Santa Fe Art District.
