Final Project

Tiarah Forester


Acts of resistance


Spring 2020


Sexual Violence


My Project is centered around the subject of sexual abuse. According to recent statistics given by The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), “Nearly 1 in 5 women (18.3%) and 1 in 71 men (1.4%) in the United States have been raped at some time in their lives, including completed forced penetration, attempted forced penetration, or alcohol/drug- facilitated completed penetration.” This is only a rough estimate because not all survivors of sexual abuse have come forward or reported the incidents. If Sexual abuse is such a major issue all over the world then why is it treated as a taboo subject? “Most female victims of completed rape (79.6%) experienced their first rape before the age of 25; 42.2% experienced their first completed rape before the age of 18 years.” Why is our youth forced into silence for the heinous acts performed against their will? Why are we not doing enough to make sexual abuse survivors comfortable in speaking out or reporting these inhumane acts? These are the questions that fueled me to dominate this project. So that I too can make a difference and fight against this social issue.


The goal I have is to comfort all who have been affected by sexual abuse. I plan to show these survivors that they are not the only ones, showing them that it's okay to speak out. I created a collage of famous men and women’s faces from around the world. Celebrities that we see daily and many that we idolize, who have also been subjected to sexual violence. Faces of celebrities such as Terry Crews, Lady Gaga, Viola Davis and so many more, form the words “I Survived”.


We are not victims but survivors and I want to make that extremely clear. The word victim only feeds into the feeling of not being brave or strong enough to speak out! I want all who come into contact with my piece to see how many lives are affected by Sexual Violence. I want those afraid to speak out to view my piece and see that they are not alone. Even those we idolize most, are going through this trauma. Hopefully, those impacted by my piece will see it's not as taboo of a topic as we think.

I created this poster digitally due to quarantine and lack of supplies. In order to reach a broad audience I posted this visual on my facebook page and tagged Sexual violence awareness promoters. I also used famous hashtags such as #MeToo in order to reach as many people as I can possibly reach. My hope is for my post to blow up all over social media through reposts and engagement.

Once, quarantine is over, I plan to have an outlined handprint on a corresponding poster board. This poster board will be located on campus, if approved, With the title "I pledge to fight against Sexual Violence". Next to this poster will be a teal (The color for sexual abuse awareness) paint tray in which students can Place a handprint anywhere on the poster board. Wipes will be handed out to those following this procedure. So even when they wipe their hands there will still be that slight stain of teal. To remind them throughout the day of their pledge. I also plan to go straight to the city where Sexual Abuse is at an all-time high, New York. This is where I will bring a duplicate poster with a handprint outline and film a video, asking those to pledge. I will post that video on YouTube and ask my community and peers to broaden sexual violence awareness. Our survivors don't have to suffer in silence.

Inspirational Quotes

“These activists focused on political realities like gentrification, the prison-industrial complex, and immigration”(Thompson, 46). This quote stood out to me mainly because it made me realize that not all activists focus on the same issues. It wasn't until now that I realized that the prison industrial complex is a huge issue in today's society. I always knew it was an issue but when bring up issue in society this did not cross my mind.






“Veterans would warily circle the project trying to smell out its politics. Was it a political campaign or a marketing ploy? Generally, after about an hour, they would walk up to Harvey, begin asking some questions, and end up staying all day, unloading sorrowful stories”(Thompson, 52). I pulled this quote mainly because it shows how much art has such a powerful impact. To hear the soldiers transition from being skeptical and closed out almost to then being so open and willing to share. It shows how much the art pieces reached out to the soldiers. It connected with them. There is nothing more beautiful than art that connects to a human being. This piece inspired me to create a piece that would give my targeted audience the same feeling. I want all sexual abuse survivors to come across my project and emotionally connect to it.

“The Mobile Intervention Units (M.I.U) are built onto lightweight trailers as a set of

aluminum parts. When pieced together they produce a temporary refuge for sleeping.” 

I pulled this quote because looking at this picture you would never believed that it was made out of aluminum. I saw that even the most simplest materials could make a huge impact. This inspired me to use simple materials and design it to have a huge impact. Which is why I chose a paintings and pictures of famous celebrities. Two simple materials that together creates a beautiful message.

This portrait is known as "Faun and a girl" it was created by an artist named Max Slevgt. This was one of the many portraits I came across during my research and had to include in my project. It is such a powerful painting because you can feel the pain and reality of sexual abuse within one glance.

This painting is known as "Nymphe enlevée par un faune" was created by an artist named  Alexandre Cabanel. This portrait is strong. It is another human representation of sexual abuse. The picture displays a beautiful setting but it is an ugly deed taking place. Which makes it stand out even more. Sexual violence is never beautiful no matter who is involved, where it takes place, or where ever the setting is.

 

This painting by Valerie West-Rosenthal is call "Trauma", as you can see this painting has very, very deep meaning. It shows how sexual abuse can cause you so much trauma and never feel safe or the same. You get all this anxiety and ptsd from it that its hard for you to even sleep at night or even get through the morning. You just feel suffocated and whenever you see someone you never know what to expect, because your mind is always bringing you back to that one day. Sexual violence is very damaging and is never okay to do. No matter what the excuse is whether is be mental issues or lord knows what, because it is damaging a whole other complete healthy person.

This picture by Mark Anderson speaks in volumes to me, not many people really expect or think men get sexually abused. It so happens to be many men get sexually abused and they are to scared to admit it because they want to maintain their manliness as people love to call it. Its sometimes hard to understand or read why some men act a certain way but its because its hard for them to open up or admit what happened to them & they go to bed having to eat it up. We should always be concerned and considerate about men, not knowing if they ever been through this pain. Sexual abuse can happen to anyone and we should be more aware of that is never okay to sexually abuse anybody or any living thing.