Imagining Relational Violence

The objective of this article is to problematize a notion of relational violence, also referred to as violence in domestic realms or relationship-based violence, drawing on its representation in the visual arts. The discussed examples illustrating the dynamics of violence include two American artists: Barbara Kruger's project organized in Glasgow in the Gallery of Modern Art in association with Amnesty International in 2005, and Bruce Nauman's video installations Anthro-Socio (1992) exhibited as part of his solo exhibition at Musee d'Art Contemporain in Montreal in 2007, and Violent Incident (1986) from the Tate Collection. Drawing on visual representation, I reflect on how different ways of narrating can either encourage or discourage our understandings of violence and the promotion of equality more generally. Framing the ways institutional power operates, here in relation to an organization of my academic role and other roles, involves a production and negotiation of meanings as well as embodiment. In such a context, reflections emerge with regard to my own positioning, concerning ambivalence about the politics of representation and the representation of the politics in the processes that are observed, analysed and showcased.