“The title eight minutes to freedom comes from the exact moment I decided to leave an abusive relationship that I was in for a very long time. It had taken me a while to get to the point of making that decision, and when the opportunity presented itself, I was doing laundry in the basement of my apartment building, and there were eight minutes left on the drying cycle. I just saw that number eight, and I said to myself, that’s it, that’s the amount of time I have to make this decision. It took everything within me, but I took my clothes once they were clean, and left. That was the moment where the healing process was just beginning.

I was inspired to create this body of work because it was other people’s courage to speak up and talk about what they had been through, leaving their own abusive situations, that really gave me the knowledge, wisdom, and courage to ultimately leave. It took me a long time because I thought it was something I was going through by myself, and that no one else has gone through this. But over time I realized this is something that people go through, and that there’s actually something really good on the other side of that decision to leave. I knew that when I was ready, I had to share my story. My goal is to inspire others to either leave an abusive situation, or help people who might know someone in an abusive situation, to be informed and know that as scary as it is to make that decision, it is better once you do, and you leave, and you basically save your own life.”

-Jessica Licciardello

Creator of '8 Minutes to Freedom'