Drawing the Unspeakable: Critical Reflections on the Ethics and Emotions of Conducting Arts-Based Research on Domestic Violence from a Feminist Perspective

This paper provides a critical discussion of the ethical issues arising from a recent project utilising arts based research in a women’s refuge. Through a series of art workshops, the study explored the liminal identities of women living in a refuge through their relationship to objects (loved, lost, missed and hated objects). The project culminated in an art exhibition, titled 'Displaced'. Analysing reflexive logs written by the research team and interviews with research participants, we discuss experiences from the fieldwork in relation to feminist literature on research methods. We focus on the manifestation of emotion work during research on domestic violence, the nature of friendship with participants, the research as a ‘gift’ from participants to the researchers (Oakley, 2016), and power and vulnerability in the research process and the exhibition.