The hidden side of violence

Serial

Artwork created with a colour photographic print of a female figure in a bright red dress, set against a purple and blue draped silk background. She is lying horizontal in the frame, caught as if in mid fall, hair and dress blown upwards, toes and fingers outstretched. Her face is obscured by her hair. Her body is surrounded by groups of dress pins, laid on top of the photographic print. The pins are arranged as if they are a flight of arrows directed at her body. One group attacks her back from underneath, another her feet and ankles from above and below. A final group descend from above towards her billowing skirt.

Untitled (Violence Study I). © Jessa Fairbrother for Wellcome Collection.

We know violence when we see it. Or do we? Criminologist and writer Laura Bui explores the hidden sides of violence. From our brains to our genes, our early lives, to our institutions, she reveals the risk factors that can make all the difference, and finally considers whether we can prevent violence.

What is violence?

Criminologist Laura Bui explores her early understanding of violence and outlines its definition and wider consequences.

Are people born violent?

Laura Bui explores how the nature vs nurture debate applies to those who commit homicide.

Where does violence come from?

The popular understanding of certain ideas in psychology have become so embedded that it’s easy to blame the parents when a young person commits a crime. Laura Bui looks to the past for evidence.

Why do victims become violent?

Witnessing both overt violence and coercive control can cause invisible harm to children. But preventing them from repeating that behaviour in the future remains a challenge.

What is structural violence?

Structural violence is seemingly invisible. But its tentacles have invaded every part of many people’s lives, thoughts, experiences and expectations, shaping them in ways they don’t even realise.

How can we prevent violence?

Evidence shows that strategies to prevent some types of violence can be very effective, while other, less well-acknowledged forms continue unabated. But hope can still guide us into a more peaceful future.

About the contributors

Laura Bui

(she/her)

Author

Laura Bui teaches and researches crime and violence at the University of Manchester. Her research on these topics has appeared in academic journals and also in places like the literary anthology ‘Test Signal’, where she explored grief and the paranormal; the non-fiction journal ‘Tolka’, where she questioned what a (criminal) psychopath is really for; and BBC Radio 4, where she raised the questions we should really be asking about true crime.

Jessa Fairbrother

Artist

jessafairbrother.com

Jessa Fairbrother is an award-winning artist concentrating on themes of yearning and the porous body. Initially training as an actor, she later completed an MA in Photographic Studies, amplifying her knowledge of how artwork and audience collide. Jessa uses embroidery, performance, photography and writing in her work. The artist’s book of her work, ‘Conversations with my mother’, is held in collections including Tate Britain and the V&A, London. Her companion piece, ‘Role Play (Woman with Cushion)’, is part of ‘Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood’ – a Hayward Touring exhibition curated by Hettie Judah.