The First Time I Felt Free.
A creative writing and photography retreat for domestic abuse survivors.
Join fellow survivors Betsy and Tereza for a day-long creative writing and photography retreat. In this space, you will have the opportunity to tell your own story of freedom through writing, and also have a portrait photo of you captured in a way that honours and celebrates you.
The retreat will include transport from Galway City to a beautiful location (approximately 1.5 hours from the city) and nourishing food.
Event Details
10:30pm-4:00pm
11:00 – 13:00
Online option.
The power of writing
Stories help us heal. Reading fellow survivors stories help us understand our own experience. You never know who will need to hear your story – or how much sharing it can heal you, too – until you tell it.
During this retreat, we will write short stories of small moments of hope, joy, and freedom from our lives after leaving harmful relationships. Sometimes the most profound feeling of freedom can come from the smallest moments. When did it come for you?
The power of photography
Seeing yourself the way other survivors see you can be profoundly transformative and empowering. We want to share that experience by offering participants the opportunity, not only to express their voices through creative writing, but also to take up visual space through photography, to see themselves and be truly and beautifully seen – perhaps for the first time.
Award-winning photographer and fellow survivor, Tereza Červeňová, will be with us for the in-person retreat to offer portrait photography sessions to participants.
Betsy Cornwell
Betsy Cornwell is a New York Times bestselling author of fiction and nonfiction, who also teaches creative writing at the University of Galway and the Irish Writers Centre.
In 2024, she received the Markievicz Award for her work on Ring of Salt, a memoir of survivorship, single motherhood, and community, which the Irish Times described as “extraordinarily moving, exquisitely written, and socially revolutionary.”
A domestic abuse survivor herself, Betsy developed the concept for The First Time I Felt Free while attending survivors’ support group meetings at COPE Galway. She heard a woman tell a story of being able to hang family photos on her walls for the first time in years after she and her children left her abuser, who had never allowed her to display her photos.
She is also the founder of The Old Knitting Factory an arts and rest residency for her fellow single parents, based in a historic knitting factory in Connemara.
Tereza Červeňová
Tereza Červeňová is a visual artist working with photography. Tereza’s portraiture is included in the permanent collections of The National Portrait Gallery, the John Kobal Foundation, the TATE Artist’s Book Collection, Eton College’s Fine and Decorative Art Collection, and The UK Parliament.
Her work has been exhibited internationally, including in Reframing Narratives: Women In Portraiture, the occasion of reopening and rehang of the National Portrait Gallery in 2023. She often works with sensitive subjects in her portraiture, including domestic abuse and modern slavery, and prioritises providing a safe, respectful experience for the people she photographs. In her personal work, Tereza often juxtaposes delicate imagery with political and autobiographical references.
She is currently she is working on a monograph about the interpersonal power hierarchies and their implications in intimate relationships – drawing on her own experience as a domestic abuse survivor.
View Tereza’s photography.
Safety
We are very mindful of participants’ safety and autonomy, and will maintain your chosen level of anonymity for any writing you contribute, as well as any photos of you. Above all, we want this retreat to be a safe, respectful, empowering experience for you.
Inclusion
This is an inclusive retreat for all women and woman-identifying people from diverse cultural backgrounds, identities, and LGBTQ+ communities. All levels of writing are welcome. The location is wheelchair accessible and we can also provide translation services if required.