ROAD TO SAFETY

I worked on something this week with Melissa, one of the girls who has agreed to model for my project, and who I blogged about a couple weeks ago. 

In photography class at school, I am developing some of the skills (namely using a lighting kit, becoming familiar with my camera and its settings, and working with a model) that will come in handy for Late Bloomers. 

I have been putting a lot of effort into the assignments for the most part because photography and storytelling through this medium are things that I care about and want to take pride in, so I was thrilled to learn one of our assignments was a photographic essay.

I thought carefully about what I wanted to do for the photographic essay, and the only thing I could think of was my fundamental objective for my art, whether written or visual: provoke thought and create conversation, because those are the things that lead to change.

So I chose to explore the topic of domestic violence through the photographic essay. I worked on the photoshoot with a team including Melissa as the model, my sister’s boyfriend Kyle as another model, and Loren Hansen (a friend of mine who is also a MAC artist) for makeup. Kirah Sapong, a friend of mine from school, also assisted setting up lights on the shoot, and I photographed and conceptualized it. 

The subject matter is heavy and the most common reaction to the finished work was people grimacing, which is exactly what I wanted. I did not want people to feel comfortable when they looked at this photographic essay, I wanted them to become uncomfortable and comment on how uncomfortable it is to know that domestic violence is a reality for hundreds of thousands of women across Canada, so the converstion will not come to a stand still and awareness will continue to be raised. 

I also chose to explore this topic because it is something that has defined my life in a way. My mother, sister, and I were all victims of domestic abuse, so I have seen it first hand. I know what it feels like to feel unsafe in a place where you are supposed to lay your head to sleep, where you are supposed to call home. This issue is important and I do not want people to fall silent about it.