Look At Me

Look At Me explores the language around sexual assault, particularly the concepts of victimization and survival. How do survivors define their experiences and themselves? How does one find or regain strength after surviving an assault? How does that strength inform future actions, attitudes, and one’s sense of self? In this environmental portrait project, I collaborate with survivors of sexual assault to create images that express each individual’s self-defined sense of strength through their choice of location, action, wardrobe and/or props. Each participant is also invited to share as little or as much as they are comfortable with in an interview that forms a text component of the project. By taking part in both the image- and copy-editing processes, these collaborators play an active role in decision-making and retain control over how they are represented. My hope with this project is that their stories make a positive impact on those who may have experienced something similar and are struggling to find a way forward.