"Individual Survival” has the ability to reach a larger audience and provide more resources for allies and survivors. My current process is printing the portraits on a cotton polyester fabric that allows the portraits to move and breathe. The choice of cotton brings a material weight to each portrait. To simulate the same experience the fabric prints create, I made gifs from small video clips of each participant. Both the gifs and fabric create a strong personal connection between the viewer and survivor."
Sabrina Godin
First Place
More about First Place-Winning "Individual Survivor"
"For people who experience sexual violence, the act inflicted reshapes their perceptions of everyday life, and extends
beyond the moment of assault. Survivors continue to live through flashbacks, they learn to reclaim their bodies, and individually process their experiences .Through a series of collaborative color portraits and black and white landscapes, “Individual Survival” represents how survivors navigate uncertain terrain in the aftermath of life-altering trauma.
“Individual Survival” has the ability to reach a larger audience and provide more resources for allies and survivors. My current process is printing the portraits on a cotton polyester fabric that allows the portraits to move and breathe. The choice of cotton brings a material weight to each portrait. To simulate the same experience the fabric prints create, I made gifs from small video clips of each participant. Both the gifs and fabric create a strong personal connection between the viewer and survivor. This body of work is also intended to exist in book form. The printed version is to create a resource for both allies and survivors of sexual violence.
The book is a combination of portraits, landscapes, facts about sexual violence in the United States, and resources for survivors. Since “Individual Survival”exists in multiple forms, I plan to expand the geographic region represented in the work. I will continue collaborating with more participants to accurately represent the widespread nature of the sexual violence epidemic in the United States."
Tie for Second Place: Hunter Lacey
Ripple Effect is a multimedia project that looks at the positive impact that meaningful employment has on people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD) and the community surrounding them. The project consists of a portrait series of people with IDD who have careers – some upwards of 25 years, a film that follows the work and home life of Max – a man with IDD who has worked at a church for 17 years, and an article that provides insight into the issues affecting this population. The hope for this project is that through its dissemination it will bring awareness to the value that people with IDD can bring to the workplace. I hope that this work furthers efforts to employ as many people with IDD as possible.
"Through all three components of this project, I hope to educate viewers on the great capabilities of people who are often misunderstood. People with disabilities are often underestimated and made to feel that they cannot contribute value. They can, and this project is a testament to that."
Tie for Second Place: Yijo Shen
Seeking a Homeland is a multimedia project focused on how Tibetan immigrants preserve and pass down cultural heritage to their children despite being members of the Tibetan diaspora. Starting with the Tibetan Sunday School at the Vienna Community Center, these students learn about their culture through the journey of language, music classes, and practice dancing for the New Year event. This project portrays the struggles of the immigrants’ families, and their efforts to sustain Tibetan culture and identity.
"This project combines interviews, photography, videos, and written pieces exploring how firstand second-generation Tibetan immigrants in the U.S. interact and understand their sharedculture from different aspects. It portrays the struggles of the immigrants’ families, and theirefforts to sustain Tibetan culture and identity."