BALTIMORE, February 27, 2012 – It is the words that slap you in the face. They are eerie, ghosts of the past that come forward and assault you. Frozen in time, photographed and held up to the light, they are daggers of sorrow. You weep for every person who has ever had to hear those words. They are the words of sexual abusers.
Grace is living every high school graduate’s dream. She graduated high school in 2011 and is now freshman in visual arts college in NYC. The photography major already had one website, 50 Extraordinary Women, when the idea of a new site came to her.
The site is Unbreakable, and its premise is simple, stark, and moving. Sexual abuse survivors write a quote from their abuser and hold it in front of a camera. No back-story, no needless graphic details…just words.
When asked what inspired the site, Grace responded, “Catcalls in
That friend was the first person Grace photographed.
What makes this site different are the quotes. The act is despicable, no doubt, but physical wounds heal. It is the words that leave the scars no one can see. The photographs are reminders that the words and the deeds are never forgotten. Each placard held represents a small act of justice. Held up to the light, each quote stuns with its audacity, with its evil, with its sheer creepiness. As you read them, you judge it for what it is. Victimization in words.
Unbreakable has become something of an internet phenomenon since The Guardian did a piece on it in Mid-January. Grace has been inundated with submissions, and praise. She summed up the experience very well, “The best part is having people feel that they are not alone, the ability to say ‘Oh my god, that happened to me, I am not alone.’ No matter how difficult the subject matter is, it is not something I can stop, there are people that need it to realize that they are not alone. It would be selfish to close down.”
For the next six months, Grace will be traveling the country photographing as many people as possible. To donate to her travel project, click here.
Baltimore based, Amy Phillips is a columnist, blogger, public speaker, twitter addict and all around nerd.
Follow Amy on Twitter @amydpp.
Amy Phillips is an independent writer for the Communities. Read more from Amy at her Accidental Musings blog.
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