In 1947 the UNDHR was created as a response to two world wars. The drafting committee
included a French juror called Rene Cassin who drafted the first version of the document. For this he was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1968.

In a 1951 lecture at the Hague Academy, he described the UNDHR as a temple:

“The Universal Declaration has been compared by us to the vast portico of a temple, the square of which is formed by the Preamble affirming the unity of the human family and whose base and foundations, are constituted by the general principles of freedom, equality, non discrimination and fraternity.”

The ‘four columns’ of this Temple represent: personal rights and freedoms; the rights of the
individual and their involvement to the outside world; the rights to spiritual facilities; freedoms of thought and consciousness; and the right to economic, social and cultural freedoms. The pediment represents the links between the individual and society. Cassin described this architectural drafting of the rights as the ’scaffolding ’ of the temple.

Over the course of two years, Woolf has studied this drafting of the UNDHR in detail, engaging
with UN Librarians in Paris, domestic abuse charities, and experts within the field of domestic abuse. 

She has combined this research with extensive knowledge of domestic abuse and coercive
control in order to draft the 16 ‘articles’ which are the basis of this new work, Temple of Safety.
Like the declaration, the reader of these articles need not be aware of the ‘scaffolding’ that
upholds them. Only that these articles seek to protect safety of personhood in relationships and provide a space for reflection for all, and question if they have these rights themselves, as a given.

In this Woolf creates a Temple of Safety that seeks to dismantle readily accepted patriarchal
norms and clarity through the haze and confusion of abuse. This work contributes to the end of the questions victims of abuse ask themselves and focuses instead on the rights everyone should automatically have.