IT STARTED WITH LOVE A performance about love, control and the moment one begins to turn into the other. It started with love. With attention. With wanting to be close. With someone who seemed to care. But when does care become control? When does attention become surveillance? And how do you recognise violence when it does not begin with violence? It Started with Love is an intimate performance told from the perspective of a woman inside an abusive relationship. Step by step, what once felt like love begins to shift. Boundaries move. Her world becomes smaller. What seems insignificant from the outside becomes part of a pattern from within. The performance explores domestic violence not as an isolated act, but as a gradual process in which control, dependency and fear can become normalised — often long before violence becomes visible to others. Created for Femicide, Top van de Piramide at LUX Nijmegen, the performance is part of Femicide in beeld, a programme examining the structures in which violence against women and femicide can develop. It coincides with the outdoor exhibition FEMICIDE by Stichting Open Mind on Plein 1944, which shares the stories of thirteen women killed by their (ex-)partners through the voices of those they left behind. 10 November 2026 — LUX Nijmegen Part of the program:

“Femicide, Top van de Piramide / Femicide in beeld”