Madison Groom

BFA ’21 Photography

Artist Statement:

This body of work is about giving a voice to survivors of sexual assault. Sexual assault is an ongoing issue that is rarely ever talked about. In America alone, someone is sexually assaulted every 73 seconds and one out of every six women will experience sexual assault at least once in their life. Victims that choose to come forward are often made to feel that they are at fault. Oftentimes safe places like hospitals, police stations, and courtrooms feel like an interrogation for the victim. With the many social stigmas around sexual assault, survivors experience re-victimization every time they are asked what they were wearing or if they were under the influence when their assault occurred as if the victims actions caused the assault. Victims are often afraid to come forward and feel their stories won’t be heard or that they may be labeled. I have created a safe space for survivors of sexual assault to share their stories without fear of judgement through anonymous portraits. Each individual was asked to answer the question “How have you changed since your sexual assault?” and was given the freedom to interpret it how they wanted. Here are their stories…

Biography:
North Carolina based photographer, Madison Groom, will earn a BFA in photography from East Carolina University in spring 2021. Madison works hard to develop and enhance her skills in portrait, wedding, event, and travel photography. She enjoys exploring other mediums such as illustration, printmaking, graphic design, and many more. She often experiments with combining multiple mediums in art. When she isn’t in class or working on assignments and personal projects, Madison likes spending time with her cat, Sansa, and loves to travel any time she can. Madison is working to one day be able to blend her passion of photography with her passion for traveling and pursue a career as a travel photographer.

Stories Behind Photographs