Our House: 16 Days of Action
The story of how Our House grew from a 2015 commission connected to the international 16 Days campaign into a wider family of creative work exploring violence, silence, healing, accountability and change.
This page begins with the wider 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign and then traces the history of Our House from its first presentation in 2015 through later touring, development and new strands.
About the 16 Days campaign
The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that runs from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day. Its purpose is to coordinate action, raise awareness and support advocacy to end violence against women and girls.
The campaign was established in 1991 by activists at the inaugural Women’s Global Leadership Institute organised by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership. It was created to connect violence against women explicitly to human rights and to encourage action across communities, organisations and institutions worldwide.
The dates themselves carry meaning. The campaign begins on 25 November, a date that commemorates the murder of the Mirabal sisters in the Dominican Republic in 1960, and ends on Human Rights Day, underlining the connection between gender-based violence and the wider struggle for human rights.
Over time, the campaign has grown into a worldwide movement involving thousands of organisations across more than 180 countries.
How Our House began
Our House was first commissioned in 2015 by Bedfordshire Domestic Abuse Partnership as part of 16 Days of Action against Domestic Abuse. From the beginning, it was created as a large-scale creative response to the campaign, using public art and storytelling to open up difficult conversations around domestic abuse, support and survival.
The work was first shown at TOKKO Youth Space for the full 16 days of the campaign and then remained there until the end of the month. Behind Closed Doors was the original 2015 version of the work, presented within Our House, its own purpose-built work of art, and it continues to tour.
Original artwork for Behind Closed Doors was created by children and young people from across the local area and combined with other creative resources to offer a powerful insight into the impact of domestic abuse on some of its most vulnerable victims. The message at the heart of the work was simple: help and support are available, and no one should have to accept abuse in their life or in the lives of their children.
Our House was conceived as a giant advent calendar house. Over time, that form has been used in different ways, including later creative developments such as the immersive murder mystery house in Who Killed Eve?.
Project timeline
What began as a domestic abuse awareness installation has developed into a wider creative project family with different strands, audiences and modes of engagement.
Original commission
Commissioned by Bedfordshire Domestic Abuse Partnership for 16 Days of Action against Domestic Abuse, Behind Closed Doors was the original version presented within Our House as a purpose-built artwork shaped through community creativity and survivor-aware social messaging.
Touring across Bedfordshire and Luton
For the 2019 campaign, the work toured multiple locations across Bedfordshire and Luton, widening public visibility and community reach through a programme of public presentation and engagement.
#LookAtMeNow
As part of the campaign, NINE RED Presents… (CIC) worked in partnership with the Emerald Centre and The Galaxy Centre – Galaxy Art Project, in association with Bedfordshire Domestic Abuse Partnership, to celebrate survivor stories and raise awareness of violence against women and girls under the hashtag #LookAtMeNow.
Behind Closed Doors in 2025
In 2025, Behind Closed Doors continued to tour within Our House as a giant advent calendar house with 25 doors and windows, inviting children aged 5 and up into choose-your-own-adventure storytelling while QR codes linked audiences to survivor stories, poetry, practical advice and local support resources.
Funded expansion
The 2025 tour and workshops were supported by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Grassroots Innovation Fund, helping the project continue through public engagement, storytelling and support-led signposting.
Into the murder mystery house
The project form later developed again through Who Killed Eve?, an immersive 18+ murder mystery experience that uses the house structure to confront rape culture, victim-blaming, gaslighting and institutional harm.
2019 tour locations
The 2019 programme extended the project’s public reach through a touring schedule across Bedfordshire and Luton, bringing the work into civic, learning, health and community spaces.
- 25 November, 10am–4pmThe Howard Centre, Bedford
- 26 November, 10am–4pmBPHA at Bedford Heights
- 27 November, 9am–12 noonFlitwick Leisure Centre
- 27 November, 1.30pm–4.30pmShefford Library
- 28 November, 11am–1.45pmCentral Bedfordshire College
- 28 November, 2.15pm–5pmDunstable Library
- 29 November, 10am–4pmBedford Hospital
- 25 November–10 December, 5pm–9pmThe Galaxy Centre, Bridge Street, Luton
Watch and read more
Explore a clip connected to Behind Closed Doors and a related article highlighting change-making work during 16 Days of Action.
Our House — Behind Closed Doors
Watch a BBC Look East clip connected to the 2019 tour and the wider public conversation around domestic abuse, survivor stories and community awareness.
Bedfordshire projects driving change during 16 Days of Action
Projects across Bedfordshire were praised during 16 Days of Action for the part they are playing in raising awareness, supporting survivors and helping drive change. Read more.
On NINE RED’s project
“This project is a powerful example of creativity driving social change. It gives survivors a voice, challenges stigma and helps communities understand the realities of domestic abuse.”
Deputy PCC Umme Ali
Why this history matters
Understanding the history of Our House shows that this is not a standalone idea appearing in isolation, but a body of work that has been developing over time in response to public need, community engagement and creative enquiry.
Across its different versions, the project has remained committed to using story, installation and public encounter to make difficult realities more visible while also pointing towards support, reflection, healing and change.
Explore related strands
Our House now exists as a wider family of connected projects, with each strand opening a different route into questions of violence, silence, witness, responsibility, support and belonging.
Behind Closed Doors
Read about the current touring version of the original Our House strand.
Who Killed Eve?
Explore the immersive strand that develops the house into a murder mystery experience confronting rape culture, victim-blaming, gaslighting and institutional harm.
Where’s Adam?
A developing strand focused on masculinity, witness, absence and responsibility.
Who Helped Eve?
A connected enquiry into allyship, intervention, support and accountability.
Doors into Bedfordshire
See how the wider ideas of Our House connect with Bedfordshire voices, places and public conversation.