‘I’m terrified of becoming a headline’: an exhibition responding to GBV in Ireland

Creative responses to societal issues can be used to highlight topics, provoke discussion, and encourage solutions. Art can take on a multiplicity of roles in response to gender-based violence from enabling individuals with personal experience sharing their stories to critiquing media/political representations. The ‘I’m terrified of becoming a headline’ exhibition (Munster Technological University Gallery Cork, Ireland, April/May 2022) deployed poetry and song, in written and recorded performance formats, newspaper headlines, and interactive spaces to further renew discussion of gender-based violence in Ireland. This article considers the installation’s role by connecting our reflections and feedback from participants with larger discussions of creativity as a process to foster progress in addressing gender-based violence.