by Bonnie Collings
For Drouin based artist Keira Sloetjes, creating art helped her reclaim her life after years of domestic violence, abuse and sexual assault.

Now, Keira's work is on display at the West Gippsland Arts Centre as part of a thought-provoking exhibition designed to shine a light on the resilience of domestic and family violence survivors.
Titled "Make a Stand, Paint Your Hand: Transforming Pain into Power", Keira's exhibition at the WGAC features photo-realistic, greyscale sketches with a special touch of colour.
Each artwork tells a story of survival, courage and hope, representing individuals who have faced pain and trauma, and staff from local support agencies. The exhibition also features original poems written by Keira's mum, Jacqui Powell.
With the help of local support services in 2020, Keira took control of her life after experiencing years of domestic violence, abuse and sexual assault.
She gained strength from putting her children and herself first and found peace in creating art, leading to the creation of her business, Desire to Sketch.
Keira said her love for art propelled her healing journey and inspired her to use art to encourage others to do the same.
"I always wanted my first exhibition to be one of meaning and purpose, something that could not just put my artworks on display, but give back to someone else," Kiera said.
"As soon as the option arose to do an exhibition, it was never going to be solely the artworks on the wall, it was always going to be something bigger (where I could) build awareness and fundraise."
Keira said when she presented her exhibition idea, the arts centre was keen to host an open day and give the exhibition the best chance to be "everything Keira wanted it to be".
Held on October 5, the exhibition open day saw a number of Gippsland based domestic and family violence support services set up in the arts centre foyer, engaging with community members and providing information about their services.
"Including the support services in the exhibition, was a no brainer because they helped me through a time when I needed them," Keira said. "I was living in a tent with two children after leaving a domestic violence relationship. I'm now in a house six years on, that I still have because of them and the support they gave me."
When creating the exhibition pieces, Keira said she wanted to focus on stories of survival and prevention of domestic violence.
"This (exhibition) needed to tell stories of how support is there (to help you) come out the other side, get control back of your life, and live a life of purpose and quality," she said.
"After my trauma and abuse, I didn't want to let him still win years later by still having control of my mental health or my life. It was a big thing for me to make sure that I got the healing, the support and the counselling to become the best version of myself that I could be for everyone around me. We can be so much more (than our abuse) if we take back that control and focus on trying to seek a better future."
Keira also wanted to provide a platform to people who had shared their stories of abuse and trauma with her.
"The exhibition is not just about supporting and raising awareness of the support services, but also giving people who have opened up to me, a way of expressing themselves," Keira said.
"Every artwork is of someone else who has experienced trauma or abuse, (it's a way of) giving them a voice. Although they're not (speaking) their stories, they're standing up for something that's very important to them."
Keira explained the use of colour in her artworks represented the "light at the end of the tunnel."
"The people in the images are not in the best places in their lives, some are emotional, some have quite serious faces," she said.
"The dark background (represents) the greyscale, cloudy, abusive time. The hands don't just (represent) stopping violence, the colour indicates reaching out for support and the light at the end of the tunnel."
Kiera said she began creating the exhibition pieces a year ago, but a series of factors led to completion of the exhibition becoming a marathon effort.
"I run art classes with about 70 people a week, so I was kept very busy with that, and murals and commission pieces, and all of a sudden, the exhibition pieces kind of got put on hold," Keira said.
"I then got diagnosed with an auto-immune disease called fibromyalgia. I kept putting it off because my day-to-day work was hard enough as it was. Then it got to August and I (realised) I had only finished one artwork. I had two choices, cancel the exhibition, or work my bum off."
Determined not to let the past win, Keira got to work finishing the exhibition.
"I got 18 artworks finished between September 2 and October 4," she said. "I was doing about 16 hours a day, the artworks are all A1 in size. Normally, it could take me 80 hours to do what I did for each artwork. I signed my last one at 3:20am on Friday, October 4 to set it up for the exhibition opening (the following day)."
Once the exhibition opened, Keira said the gravity of what she had completed finally hit her.
"I don't think it registered straight away," she said. "I think when I came back on the exhibition opening day and stood there looking at my mum's poetry and the artworks, it was like a breath of fresh air. I realised that I'd done it."
As well as the physical accomplishment of creating the exhibition, Keira said she felt a number of personal accomplishments.
"Right at the end of my speech, I looked at my children," Keira said. "They've experienced and seen a lot. To look at them and think of the world that we now live in and the life I've given them now and see their smiles... was just incredible."
Keira said she hoped people attending the exhibition learned more about services that local support agencies provided, and that "there is hope."
"It's really hard to be resilient and keep being resilient, but there is life after abuse, there's life after trauma and there's reasons to keep going," Keira said.
"Someone might walk into that exhibition who isn't experiencing abuse, but (someone in their family) is, and they can pick up a pamphlet and share that awareness of the support services available."
Keira's exhibition will be on display at the West Gippsland Arts Centre until Friday November 29. The artworks are for sale, with 50 per cent of the cost being donated to a support service of the buyers' choice. Around the exhibition, QR codes can be scanned to donate to local support services.
If you or someone you know needs support, in an emergency call 000 or the following support services: Safe Steps 800 015 188, for 24-hour support contact 1800 RESPECT - 1800 737 732 or contact Gippsland Centre Against Sexual Assault on 1800 806 292.