an experimental photograph

We had the task of taking an experimental photograph - I wanted to make a statement piece regarding sexual assault on campus. With striking contrast, long exposure, and suggestive imagery, the goal was to catch the viewers’ attention while they passed.

In this piece, this victim is in focus, while the perpetrators are blurred in the background, to reverse what we often experience in our society - how perpetrators of sexual violence are often prioritized above the survivors of the crime. This brings attention solely to the survivor’s emotions. Her taped mouth expresses the silencing of survivors of sexual violence.

I also adapted the piece into a book cover for the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Creating this project while living on a largely populated college campus (where we disturbingly received police alert texts about campus sexual assaults on a daily basis) was important to me. My mission was to, first and foremost, let survivors know that they aren’t alone, and secondly, to address the prevalence of sexual violence and rape culture both on campus and around the world.