In an attempt to break through and dismantle the usual representations of violence, Beth B confronts the visitor with her multi media collage ‘Under lock and key’ with the personal stories of victims and culprits. Rape, murder, abuse and imprisonment, as well as trauma assimilation are all considered. By placing various roles and stories next to each other, she offers more narrative entrances, but makes unequivocal identification impossible. The viewer is compelled to take on different roles, possible positions and perspectives in the installation.

A block of four cells has been centrally placed in the space in which can be heard the account of a prisoner in solitary confinement. A moving account of institutionalised violence, physical and psychological abuse. Jack Henry Abbot, condemned for murder, tells how he was abused and left bound in a dark hole. “I heard someone screaming in the distance ... then I realised it was me” (In the Belly of the Beast). To hear this shocking story, the viewer has himself to take on the role of the prisoner by going into the cell.

Behind the cell block, two large ‘talking heads’ are projected, a regularly recurring method of communication in Beth B’s work. The one image lets those who were victims of power, racism or sexual violence speak. They read letters that they wrote to the criminals. Looking and speaking straight into the camera, they seem to have a direct confrontation with the viewer as the criminal. In the image next to this someone is reading fragments from interviews with the ‘charming’ serial killer Ted Bundy, constantly changing from the first to the third person. The fragments describe his gruesome deeds and how his addiction to pornography was supposed to have driven him to commit them. By placing these images next to each other, they not only seem to personally address the viewer but also each other. A confrontation between criminal and victim in which the viewer is also involved.