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Welcome to the Survivor Nest
Hi there, I'm Carla and welcome to the nest! I am here to hold space for survivors of incest and childhood sexual abuse. It is my wish to help survivors connect to their creative center through the arts and provide community, connection, as well as an opportunity for healing.
The Nest Project is a healing arts project where Debbie builds human sized nests and leads people through a transformational process of turning pain and trauma into beautiful works of art with her lens. Her subjects are guided to let go of the stories of trauma and hold themselves in a nurturing nest. She then becomes a witness capturing her subjects through deeply moving, bare, and vulnerable photographs and narratives.
Her project and work is an opportunity to transform old stories that weigh us down. It's an opportunity to let go of shame and hold our vulnerabilities and our inner child with love and acceptance.
The Survivor Nest Project
I am excited to be organizing The Survivor Nest Project with Portland,OR artist and author Debbie Baxter of The Nest Project. The Survivor Nest Project is a collaboration with other amazing creatives and advocates in Massachusetts and the North Shore area. Together, we wish to expand the project to bring survivors and supporters of survivors together through several means of creative and healing arts. The public will be able to experience a gallery exhibition, view a documentary, experience sound healing, as well as hear the words of survivors. We view this project as a way to explore and celebrate our collective roots & wings, whether we have experienced this specific form of trauma or other traumas that may leave us feeling alone, isolated, or afraid. The life sized nest that we create will hold space for you!
The Survivor Nest Project at a Glance
Debbie will be leading the nest building with Carla and some key members of her personal support system as a survivor: a lifelong friend, her 4th grade teacher, and a healer. They will build a nest at a meaningful location in Cape Ann, where Carla felt an inner sense of home and safety. After ceremoniously setting the project's intention and taking the initiatory Nesting photographs, the nest will then be moved to Carla's current home in Beverly, MA. 10 more survivors will be photographed by Debbie in Carla's backyard and undergo Debbie's unique Nesting Experience. At this time the public will also be invited to a sound healing bath between the two days of photography. The project will culminate to the greater public of survivors and supporters with a multimedia gallery exhibition of the nest, the portraits and a process video. The nest will then be available to travel to other select locations.
Are you a survivor who wants a Nesting Experience?
Our Nesting Collaborators
Creating with Massachusetts and North Shore area artists and organizations is key for the Survivor Nest Project. In doing so we wish to enrich and enliven the Nesting Experience for Survivors as well as reaching out to our greater nesting community of supporters. Our mission is to offer healing to survivors as well as bringing the topic of childhood sexual abuse trauma to the public through creative and healing arts.
Lisa Kawski
Lisa will provide sound healing for the nesters as well as offer a healing sound bath to the public
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Donna Jenson
Donna is a longtime advocate for survivors, and will offer support to the nesters. She will also present a viewing of her documentary Telling is Healing
Katie Bourgeois
Katie will create a documentary of the Survivor's Nest Project that can be shown after the project is complete
Contact Carla at Survivor Nest
We are happy to talk to you about this project, and we are excited to work with potential sponsors and partner with others who may be able to add contributions. Questions? Drop us a line (or a branch) below :)