Asking For It, 2019
Embroidery on Aida
‘Overkilling’ is defined as the use of excessive, gratuitous violence beyond that necessary to cause the victim’s death. (1)
According to the Femicide Census, 2019, there was evidence of overkilling in at least 54% of femicides in 2019. (2)
Asking For It, is concerned with the ‘ordinary awfulness’ of the (psychological) domestic environment. It speaks of women trying to contain their emotions so as not to provoke their partners, and the violence and hatred with which women are murdered by their intimates. The intricate, precise embroidery is the antithesis of the abandon with which men continue to assault their partners long after the death blow.
1. Mitchell, C., Anglin, A., (2009) Intimate Partner Violence: A Health-Based Perspective, p. 325, Oxford University Press.