If I Can't Have You No One Will

Marlene E. Miller has been a maker of puppets, and a producer of prints, drawings, paintings, and sculpture. In her art she confronts powerful issues such as domestic violence, the Holocaust, feminism, and homelessness. She focuses on all those who suffer, including the elderly, and victims of AIDS, war, and racism. Her art reflects her desire to elicit a reaction from the viewer; whether positive or negative.

If I Can’t Have You No One Will is based on a real story about a victim of domestic violence. Through her work, Miller wants to give a voice to those who have none. Miller states that her intention is to force the viewer to look at something that, even shocking or horrific, exists in great part because society enables it to exist. A level of empathy for victims of abuse is reached when the viewer asks not, “how could she stay with him?” but rather, “how could he do this to her?”. Many of her drawings evolved from what she learned about survivors of abuse through TV accounts, newspaper clippings and spending time in Family Courts.