Stopping Patterns
Story and photo by Brian Feist
Stopping Patterns at Gulf Port LibraryGULFPORT—Local writer and artist Steven Reigns will be displaying his latest work, "Stopping Patterns," as part of a new exhibit, City of Imagination: Total Risk II, at the Gulfport Library for three weeks beginning September 6. The exhibit is coordinated by Frank Hibrant.
Reigns, author of Your Dead Body is My Welcome Mat, has a reputation for putting the his life into his art. Welcome Mat is a collection of essays and poems relating Reigns' childhood as a victim of physical and sexual abuse. "Stopping Patterns" uses the concept of a quilt with its repeating patterns to reflect the patterns in Reigns' life. The idea came to him as he was escaping yet another violent relationship. He fled, driving off into the night, barely able to shift the gears of his car because of his injuries. "I suddenly had a flashback," says Reigns. "I was eighteen and I was leaving home. I had been beaten again. It hurt so bad I could hardly drive my car. And I thought to myself, ‘My God! Eight years later and I'm still running away into the night and I can't drive my car from being beaten up by the men in my life. Haven't I learned anything?'"
Reigns admits this new project is more risky than writing his book. Incorporated into the quilt are photographs of his significant relationships, along with narratives of the abusive nature of those relationships. But Reigns defends his decision to expose the abusers. "It's the truth," he says. "For the abuser the silence of the victim is an ideal situation. Silence only protects predators."