I don’t know her name. I probably never will. I know there are thousands of women who’ve had a similar experience as her. And she’s inspired all of them. For the Stanford rape survivor, her influence has just turned a corner.
A new photo series has given victim-blaming a new light.
Partnering with Current Solutions, a platform dedicated to spreading sexual assault awareness, photographer Yana Mazurkevich has fostered a dialogue between the outsider and the survivor. Using paint powder, whiteboards, and simple yet powerful messages, Mazurkevich effectively captures what it feels like to be silenced by an oppressor.
Current Solutions was founded by students just over a month ago. Mazurkevich is the in-house artist, and the series, released June 22, has gotten a lot of attention, with articles featuring the photos running in The Huffington Post, Bustle, and Cosmopolitan.
Mazurkevich, who worked as an assistant photo editor at her college paper, The Ithacan, said the paint was just an artistic choice at first, a pop of color against the dark theme, but it took on new meaning as the shoot began.
“After the powder was thrown at the models/my friends, I heard one of my friends say that it was very unexpected when the powder was going to hit her,” says Mazurkevich in an email. “I was immediately moved by that, and quickly made the reference to how an attack can come out of nowhere, and you just never know when it’s going to hit you. The powder itself also got EVERYWHERE in the studio (which I got into a lot of trouble for…shhh), and obviously on the models. A few commented saying how it was up their nose and in their hair. Everything was just so dirty. And isn’t that how it feels after someone touches you? Dirty? I know I felt that way completely. Absolutely filthy.”
“Most people know the statistic one in four women are assaulted during their college career, but what most people don’t realize is that this happens to one in four women they know. By putting faces to these stories, we’re showing the world that people are not afraid to speak out,” says Maxwell Fong, a co-founder of Current Solutions.
Here are the rest of the photos:
Photos via Yana Mazurkevich.
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