Dear Survivor…
You're here because someone needs to hear this.
Write a letter, poem, or a single word, the length was never the point. Write to a survivor, known or unknown. Tell them you believe them. Tell them they're loved.
Takes two minutes to write. Stays with someone for a lifetime.
Your words join the exhibition. Their name stays hidden. Your part in this doesn't.
Write it now →
1 in 3 women in Australia has experienced physical violence.
Not a stranger in the dark. Someone close; a partner, a parent, a friend sitting across the table from you.
-Our Watch, Australia
Storytelling For Change
Salt Bearing Witness is a contemporary photography exhibition at Roxy Gallery, Kyogle.
Dear Survivor is an opportunity for community to actively participate in conversation. Every submission will be personally read and a collection will be displayed within the gallery alongside the photographic works. Your voice does matter and is important to everyone, especially those on the journey through healing.
Because healing is not linear.
A collection of letters and poems written directly to survivors; known or unknown to you, telling them they are believed, they are loved, and the stillness will not last forever. Every submission becomes part of a living exhibition: a chorus standing in for all the quiet water no one saw.
You don't need to be a writer. You don't need the right words. You just need to mean it.
What to Write?
There's no wrong way to do this. Some ideas, if you need somewhere to begin:
Write to a survivor you know, without naming them
Write to a stranger — someone you'll never meet, but who might read this and feel less alone in the drift
Write to your younger self, if this is your story too
Write about the moment the wind returned, if you've felt it — or the waiting, if you're still becalmed
A poem, a single line, or a full letter — the length was never the point
A few words are enough. A few thousand are welcome too.
Send your letter.
A few words are enough. A few thousand are welcome too.
Every submission is read with care before it's included. Please don't include identifying details about yourself or anyone else — this is a space for words of support, not disclosure of specific incidents or names.
If you are currently unsafe or need support right now, please reach out:
1800RESPECT — 1800 737 732 (24/7 national domestic, family and sexual violence counselling)
Lifeline — 13 11 14
To whoever reads this next
You are believed. You are not to blame. And somewhere, without knowing your name, someone has already written the wind back into your sails.
The stillness is not the end of the story. It's only the part before the water moves again.
This exhibition exists because of that belief. Thank you for helping build it.
“Dear Survivor” is a companion project to Salt: Bearing Witness, by 6 Acre Studios, created in support of survivors of gender-based violence.
Kindly supported by Kyogle Together, Kyogle Anti -Violence Alliance, The Roxy Gallery and Kyogle Council