About Project Unbreakable
The mission of Project Unbreakable is to increase awareness of the issues surrounding sexual assault and encourage the act of healing through art.
In October of 2011, then 19 year old Grace Brown was a photography student living in New York City. One day, while out on a Saturday night, a friend told Grace her story of sexual assault – and it became the story that would change Grace’s life forever. Unable to comprehend the darkness that goes on in our society, Grace went to bed that night losing faith in humanity and counting the number of people she knew who were abused. The next morning, she woke up with the idea for Project Unbreakable.
Originally, Project Unbreakable was meant to stay small, simply a way to spread awareness but it has since evolved into a healing project for sexual assault survivors where they are photographed holding a poster with a quote from their attacker. Survivors also have the option of submitting a photo of themselves holding their own poster to be featured on the website. Since the project’s conception, Project Unbreakable has included over 1500 photographs of survivors, from Grace’s photography to submissions to other group’s recreations of Project Unbreakable.
Currently, Grace Brown travels to colleges and universities around North America to discuss the importance of sexual assault awareness and to showcase the work of Project Unbreakable.
My husband and I served an LDS Service mission with LDS Family Services for in the Addiction Recovery Program. Something I learned during our mission is that addiction thrives in secrecy. As time has gone on I have come to the realization that domestic violence, rape and sexual assault thrive in secrecy as well. Anything "bad" or inappropriate will thrive in secrecy. What I like about this project is that victims are coming out of hiding and telling their stories. What their attackers, or family and friends who did not believe them, said are no longer a secret. Using your voice can be very healing. Project Unbreakable gives victims a voice.
WARNING: Project Unbreakable is very graphic. They do not black out any sort of language that might be offensive. It is what the attacker said, word for word. The site is a potential trigger for victims as well.
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