There are so many wounds that the words fail them. Rape is one of them. It is silenced by force – isolated survivors not only in their pain, but in situations where they seem unable to speak it. Let’s talk about rapethe long-term project of photographer and activist Jadwiga Brontē, treating this silence with fundamental clarity, creates a space that brings together testimony, solidarity and visibility.
Dominga is a survivor of Islamic indigenous Mayans in Guatemala’s conflict-related sexual violence.
Let’s talk about rape is a collaborative, trauma information project where survivors recycle stories with shutter-release cables – converting image making into powerful healing and empowering behaviors.
©2024
The project consists of more than 250 self-portraits and personal statements of sexual violence survivors around the world, and the project resists the logic of anonymity or abstraction. Each participant chose how to see – how to pose, reveal what and say. These images are not clinical or voyeuristic. They are fragile, constituted, usually quiet, occasionally confronted, always dignified. Instead of granting access by force, the viewer was invited to witness with caution.
Olena Apchela survivor of wartime rape and torture in Ukraine.
Let’s talk about rape is a collaborative, trauma information project where survivors use shutter release cables to restore their narrative through self-portraits, blending image production into powerful healing and empowering behaviors.
©2024 JadwigaBrontē and Olena Apchel
