From the Fragment To the Whole (2019 – present) is a socially engaged art project that explores glass as a metaphor for the lived experience of surviving domestic abuse.
Watch this 3-minute video to learn more about the project before reading about it below.
Why Glass?
The Material
From the Fragment To the Whole is founded on the premise that creative engagement with materials can be a powerful way to reinterpret one’s past, creating opportunities for the emotional weight of lived experiences to become tangible through collaboration with the material — a process that is sometimes referred to as embodied knowledge.
In From the Fragment to the Whole, glass becomes a metaphor for the experience of rebuilding a life shattered by domestic abuse. Interesting parallels emerge between the contradictory qualities of glass and the realities of abuse: fragility and strength, transparency and opacity, sharpness and tactility, the ability to charm and even mesmerise, and the possibility of being shattered but also reformed into a new whole from fragments.
What Happens?
The Process
Through one-to-one workshops, women survivors of domestic abuse create artworks from fragments. The process is structured as an embodied engagement with glass, where material, memory, storytelling and physical action are inseparable.
Glass becomes a visual and material representation of lived experience — disruption, fragmentation and the attempt to reassemble a life affected by the devastating impact of domestic abuse.
At a certain stage of the workshop, participants use a large hammer to smash a sheet of glass, hitting it as many times as they choose. The material fractures in unpredictable ways, responding to pressure, impact and resistance.
The subsequent process of gathering fragments and reconstructing the surface becomes central to the work. Participants choose what to include, what to overlap, and what to leave absent. These absences are not empty gestures but reflections of loss — of what cannot be recovered, and what remains unresolved.
In this way, the process becomes an embodied form of making, where memory, material and thought are inseparable. It offers a way of working with fragmentation directly, through action, attention and care.
Why Does Breaking Matter?
Meaning
The breaking of glass carries a crucial shift in agency. In the context of domestic abuse, objects, homes and bodies are often subjected to violence and destruction by another. Glass, for many survivors, is associated in memory with danger and fear. Here, breaking is reclaimed. It becomes intentional — a reassertion of agency rather than victimhood.
It is also a deeply complex action. For many women, leaving abuse can involve the dismantling of the very structure they have been told to preserve: the family unit, relationships and shared life. Survivors are often made to carry guilt and responsibility for this rupture by perpetrators, wider family systems, and at times even by their own children. Within this context, the breaking of glass becomes a metaphor for that painful necessity — the moment of separation, the decision to leave, and the act of breaking away in order to survive, often at the most dangerous point in an abusive relationship.
The work therefore mirrors lived experience. It becomes a way of making visible what is often hidden, offering a silent retelling of stories that are frequently ignored, silenced or misunderstood.
What Emerges?
The Artwork
Once fired in the kiln, the resulting glass panels hold these actions permanently within their surface. The material registers fragmentation and reconstruction simultaneously, transforming rupture into form. The finished pieces reflect the slow reconstruction of a fragmented self and the ongoing process of rebuilding after trauma.
Within this context, glass provides clarity. The fractures are not concealed but made visible. They are not accidental marks, but direct consequences of rupture and harm. They ask to be seen and understood as such.
Similarly to the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken vessels are repaired rather than discarded, the breakages are not hidden but given prominence and value. They become evidence of resilience, carrying the marks of survival while remaining whole despite past fractures.
The resulting artworks speak of repair, reforming and recreation.
For the individual, the process is an embodied one: working with hands, heart and mind to create an artwork that reflects memory and the shape of lived experience.
Why Does It Matter?
The Wider Context
On a wider level, the works produced through the workshops bring together individual narratives into a collective expression. They open space for recognition, listening and accountability, contributing to broader conversations around trauma-informed practice, social support and the need for epistemic justice – the right of survivors to have their knowledge, experience and testimony recognised as valid and significant.
Collectively, these works contribute to a wider visibility of survival, and to dismantling the barriers that prevent survivors from being heard, supported and believed.
As the project continues to grow, each new artwork becomes part of an expanding collection of survivor narratives. The long-term ambition is to bring these individual works together within a unified public sculpture: a collective structure formed from many distinct experiences, reflecting both the uniqueness of each story and the strength that emerges through solidarity. In this way, the project moves from individual acts of making towards a shared public monument to survival, resilience and transformation.
Project Timeline
2019 – The Beginning
Artist Roberta De Caro first conceived From the Fragment To the Whole during the third year of her BA in Fine Art at City & Guilds of London Art School. The project emerged from a re-elaboration of the artist’s lived experience of surviving domestic abuse and her practice in glass, proposing a creative methodology through which other women survivors could engage with their own experiences.
The proposal was awarded the City & Guilds of London Art School Student Initiated Project Prize 2019, providing the foundation for the project’s development.
2020 – The First Iteration
In collaboration with Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre, the first iteration of the project was developed as a programme of group workshops culminating in an exhibition at Bargehouse, South Bank.
The project was due to launch in March 2020 but was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021 – Rethinking the Project
Responding to the restrictions of the pandemic, the project was redesigned as a series of one-to-one workshops. This unexpected change proved fundamental to the project’s development, allowing for a more personal, trauma-informed and participant-led approach.
A pilot programme involving three participants was presented at the City & Guilds of London Art School MA Interim Show, where the adapted methodology was first tested and exhibited.
2022 – First Major Exhibition, Espacio Gallery
Following a grant of £15,000 from Arts Council England through the National Lottery, the first phase of the project was completed. Twenty-four artworks created through one-to-one workshops were exhibited as a large-scale light installation at Espacio Gallery, London.
→ View the exhibition
2023–2025 – Project Expansion
A second Arts Council England grant of £30,000 enabled the project to expand significantly. Alongside continued one-to-one workshops, participants returned for a new programme of group workshops developed in collaboration with artist and art therapist Hannah Littlejones.
The expanded collection was presented in two major exhibitions.
Hackney Town Hall – International Women’s Day, March 2024
In collaboration with Hackney Council, the project was exhibited at Hackney Town Hall. Sculptures created during the group workshops were shown alongside twelve new works produced through one-to-one sessions.
The exhibition included a public panel discussion bringing together artists, researchers, councillors, practitioners and project participants to explore domestic abuse, trauma, creativity and recovery.
→ View the exhibition
Westminster City Hall – March–April 2025
Presented in collaboration with Westminster City Council and The Women’s Network, the exhibition opened on International Women’s Day 2025. The opening event featured the artist in conversation with the Lord Mayor of Westminster, Cllr Robert Rigby, and the Speaker of Hackney Council (2023–24), Cllr Anya Sizer.
The exhibition ran for six weeks and included an artist talk and the launch of the first project publication.
→ View the exhibition
2026 – Artist Residency & Exhibition at Coventry Cathedral
The project developed into an artist residency and exhibition at Coventry Cathedral, in collaboration with the Cathedral Events Team and Coventry Haven Women’s Aid, with generous glass sponsorship from Bullseye Glass. This marked the first time the project was delivered outside London, extending its reach and creating opportunities for new partnerships and participation.
2027 – Forthcoming
The next chapter of From the Fragment To the Whole will open on 8th March 2027 at Durning Library, Kennington, in collaboration with Lambeth Council. The exhibition will launch a new series of workshops and continue the project’s ongoing development.
Find out more about our main exhibitions by clicking on the links below:
Espacio Gallery – Exhibition & Talk 2022
If you would like to find out more about this project and its participants, watch this 20-minute film. It made with footage of the workshops and interviews with the participants and the artist Roberta De Caro: