Sabrina Godin

TW: Sexual Assault

Every seventy-three seconds an American is sexually assaulted, but the topic of sexual assault is still kept behind locked doors. Both men and women are ashamed to talk about it because society has blamed the survivor. People who talk about their experiences are capable of changing the way society views sexual assault. Everyone who has experienced sexual assault has an individual experience, which makes them form their coping mechanism. This became the basis of my series. I wanted to be able to individualize each survivor while keeping them completely anonymous. Sexual assault also includes harassment, breaking boundaries of consent, using technology as a way to abuse people, and emotional manipulation. If society only limits sexual assault to rape, then all the other types will be perceived to be less of an issue. My participants only told me if they were sexually assaulted and their coping mechanisms. Coping is not a singular moment; survivors find a routine that replaces the trauma. I wanted to show how routines vary as their experiences are not the same. The choice to keep each participant anonymous was to emphasize that it could happen to anyone. Decades may pass after being sexually assaulted, but certain triggers can make a person feel trapped in that place. To create the feeling of being trapped in their memories, I surrounded each participant in black veils. These images are not meant to only exist on a screen. These photographs are printed on silk fabric that is used to make lingerie. Sexual assault is often blamed on the survivor because of what they are wearing. By using the same fabric that is commonly associated with sexual assault I challenge this mindset. The display of these images is also meant to be hung on a clothesline. Since sexual assault is often kept behind closed doors, I wanted to “air out the dirty laundry” and expose it directly to society. The meaning of this work is to teach society to not blame the survivor. You are meant to be gentle with the prints and with people because you never know who has been sexually assaulted and is not ready to speak about it.