ELISA LINDA IANNACONE
The Spiral of Containment: Rape's Aftermath

These images are part of a larger project that explores the impact of rape through magical realism. After being sexually assaulted by a family member in Mexico, I found healing through art therapy, and learned trauma's memory isn't always literal; it dwells in the imagination. Pain can manifest as a cage or abyss, and I collaborated with global survivors to express our post-assault feelings.
This project, deemed "therapeutic" by the London Art Therapy Network, empowers participants, who are the rape survivors themselves, to reframe their experiences, offering art as a form of justice where legal systems often fail. Using the colour wheel as a way to unite our stories through the light spectrum, each survivor is attached to a particular colour.
As a former conflict reporter, I oppose images that freeze people in perpetual victimhood. Through collaboration, I aim to restore power to survivors. Art becomes an answer in our conflict, where we can be witnessed and heard.

Author
Elisa Iannacone is a Canon Ambassador that has worked on six continents producing work for outlets such as Newsweek, National Geographic, and BBC World. Covering challenging environments, from the Rabaa massacre in Cairo, the impact of Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, to domestic violence within Iraqi refugee camps, has fuelled her work with social consciousness.
Her travelling art exhibition and book, The Spiral of Containment: Rape's Aftermath, detail her experience as a rape survivor healing trauma alongside 24 fellow survivors' voices, through the mediums of photography, film, holographic projections and soundscapes. Her work as DoP has screened on television, Amazon Prime, and film festivals around the globe. She is a regular guest lecturer at universities, multiple times TEDx and event speaker, and the host of global campaign ‘Conversations on Consent’ to advocate for equality and human rights.
Elisa founded Reframe House media agency to shift views on social justice through art.

Website
www.elisaiannacone.com

Instagram
@elisaiannacone

BACK TO GALLERY