Lisa Jetonne
Wearing the Wreckage 2021
Parachute Harness (disassembled and rearranged; hardware added), 100 yards of polypropelene webbing, template text of a Protective Order. Woman's size 6 to 18, variable/adjustable, 36" x 25" x 25"
"Wearing the Wreckage" is skydiver slang for the uncommon near-death jump where all safety measures failed yet the jumper still managed to beat the odds and survive due to the mere physical presence of their harness and pack assembly. With the running text of a Protective Order and a 100 yard coil of webbing, this modified parachute safety harness symbolizes the wreckage wrought by domestic violence, handled most often by family courts. "Freely" walking around in it, a survivor can accurately measure the zone of presumed safety prescribed by the court whenever the order is, almost inevitably, violated. Inherent inequality in domestic violence orders makes, ironically, the protected person the one responsible for discerning (and reporting) violations by their abuser, including knowing the measurement, and the burden of carrying a copy of the order. It's not particularly freeing, and often unsafe. Yet, the alternative — not jumping — is worse.
Lisa Jetonne, Wearing the Wreckage, Photo by Mike Battey
Lisa Jetonne, Wearing the Wreckage, Photo by Mike Battey
Lisa Jetonne, Wearing the Wreckage, Photo by Mike Battey
Protection orders as parachutes: The impact of domestic violence, by Danielle Slakoff, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Sacramento State
“Wearing the Wreckage” by Lisa Jetonne conjures two images. One image is that of a person armed with a protection order (their parachute) to aid them in their planned escape from their abusive partner. Of course, the hope is that the parachute will work when deployed. However, like a protection order, parachutes may not always protect the person who wears/has them. Although rare, sometimes parachutes do not function correctly after a person jumps. People who survive a fall with a faulty parachute are referred to as “wearing the wreckage.”
The second image that comes to mind when viewing Jetonne’s work is that of a victim/survivor literally wearing their trauma on their bodies, in the form of a somewhat bulky skydiving outfit. In reality, the wreckage worn on the body may be intrusive flashbacks, lingering injuries, and the psychological and physical impact of long-term fear. Indeed, many survivors deal with mental and physical health issues in the aftermath of abuse; these victims/survivors often wear the wreckage.
In response to intimate partner violence, people sometimes say, “I don’t understand why they don’t just leave.” This piece masterfully illustrates that in order for a person to safely eject from a high-stress situation, there must be safety planning involved. And, even with the best safety planning in place (and the sturdiest harness and top-of-the-line parachute), the outcome may still be devastating. While a protection order may serve as an added layer of protection, the reality is that they sometimes fail, too.