March 12, 2012 · Success Stories

Project Unbreakable: A Young Photographer Heals Victims of Abuse

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Still at The School of Visual Arts in New York, Grace Brown is tackling a rarely discussed subject matter through her art – sexual abuse.  Launching her project in October 2011, she has since crowdsourced countless images that allow victims to write a message to their attacker.  Whilst cathartic, it brings awareness to the number of unreported cases that hold shocking statistics – ‘1/3 women and 1/5 men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime; 15/16 rapists will never spend a day in jail, every 2 mins someone in the US is sexually assaulted.’ Through word of mouth and online activity she has since connected with a variety of individuals across the US from a range of demographics, all eager to participate in Project Unbreakable.  The content is ready to be photographed – now all Grace needs is the funds:

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How has the experience so far of interacting with your subjects contributed to your development as a young photographer?
It has given me more life experience in a lot of ways. I’m not the most social person sometimes, I can be rather shy, so it has been really wonderful to connect with people in a way that I feel comfortable.

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How did you discover crowdfunding and why has it become a vital part in making your project happen?
I’ve seen a lot of the musicians I know do crowdfunding for their new records and it really works well. I realized when my project was a few months old that if I wanted to continue reaching people, I needed to find a way to fund it. Crowdfunding was the easiest, smartest way.

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Where will you be traveling to and how have you conducted outreach to the individuals that you plan to photograph?
I’m heading to DC in a couple of weeks, and planning a few more trips around the country. If I raise enough money, I would really love to get to Europe. As for outreach, I primarily just rely on word of mouth. That’s mostly the reason why this project has been growing so quickly.

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Your Tumblr is a mix of submitted images and those that you have taken, how has the collection of this content contributed to help victims of sexual abuse through some of your experiences?
I first created this project to mainly show how common sexual abuse was – much more common than we realize – but I soon found out that Unbreakable was much more powerful than that. It’s a way for people to take back the words that were said to them. Survivors often don’t realize how powerful those words can be, sitting in one’s stomach like a stone. Finally, it is their time to hold the power again. I’ve had emails from people telling me that they feel free for the first time. It’s quite amazing that an idea I woke up with one morning has turned into this.

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How has social media and online promotions played a role in driving awareness of your fundraising efforts?

Social media is the primary reason why I am even able to raise money at all. My friend Nino Gallego created a promotional video for the project/fundraiser, and it went nearly viral. People were sharing it, and then their friends would share it, and so on. I feel like my project in general wouldn’t be anywhere close to where it is now if not for social media.

Project Unbreakable is currently crowdfunding on Indiegogo