HUSH - Book - Page 10
HUSH – Breaking the Silence | Victim Support Scotland
page 10
INTRODUCTION
HUSH is the first creative lived experience project undertaken by Victim Support Scotland. Coordinated by the
Support for Families Bereaved by Crime (SFBC) team, HUSH
marks an exciting development to the service that has
already evolved and expanded in the three years since its
inception. Our mission is to ensure that people affected by
crime are at the heart of what we do and what we say. At
HUSH we listened to the families as they generously shared
their experiences of grief and the criminal justice system
and we asked the question, what can we do better? This
project aims to provide public education by inviting a wide
audience to engage with and learn from these families'
experiences as they tell their stories in their own words
and through their creative works.
Inspired by the approach taken at the Inside Outside
project, which amplifies the voices of women in the sex
industry, HUSH is the first of its kind to work collaboratively
with families affected by murder in Scotland. The project
started in November 2021 with an initial meeting between
the families and the project coordinators. It was in this
meeting that families came up with the name and developed the concept behind HUSH. They all felt that this word
resonated with their experiences in one or many ways.
They felt hushed by the criminal justice system, quietened
by the authorities, and spoken for by the media. They spoke
of the hush that surrounds you after losing a family member to murder. No one knows what to say or how to act.
Relationships are altered as their lives and the lives of their
loved ones become defined by what happened.
The project work began with an initial workshop led by
Dundee based photographer, Kathryn Rattray. In this session the families explored how photography can be used as
a powerful tool to articulate feelings, connect to memories, and convey a message. Families experimented with
different techniques and styles, using both film and digital
cameras, finding their own ways to harness real life experiences and emotions through art.
Following this, the families carried out recorded conversations with SFBC's Alice Nottage and Fiona Docherty.
The families shared what happened in the moments, days,
weeks, months, and years after losing their loved one to
crime. These conversations were long, honest, and emotional. The stories in this book were created using verbatim excerpts from these conversations, allowing you to
hear their distinct and unfiltered voices.
The families then took part in group and individual
workshops to illustrate key moments in their journeys and
to explore their local areas through a photographic lens.
