Project Empower is a photovoice study that explored the strengths and challenges of healing and recovery from intimate partner violence among LGBTQ+ racial-ethnic minority college students. Photovoice is a participatory action visual method that utilizes photography and group discussion to center the voices of individuals with shared identities and experiences. Students across the country participated in six photovoice sessions and took photos on several topics including: confidence, vulnerability, growth, authenticity, and sanctuary. This photo exhibit includes the selected photos and narratives that represent the experiences and voices of the survivors who participated in the study. The exhibit is titled “Still, we rise” to pay homage to Maya Angelou and to illustrate resilience and growth in the face of adversity. Select each photo to learn about the strengths and challenges of healing and recovery from intimate partner violence.
Still, We Rise
I feel lost and terrible right now. But I'm getting somewhere. And that’s okay.
Two years ago we had a storm, and it was super terrible and awful. And lightning struck this tree. It split the tree in half. The tree is still standing. It's still growing its leaves and it's still growing its nutrients. And I guess to me, I’m still standing tall. Despite getting struck by lightning.
My 9th grade PE teacher would always tell this story about an eagle, because he was trying to encourage us. He would always say this before we ran the mile, because no one likes to run the mile and he would say, “Don't feel discouraged, just do your best. When an eagle flies and goes down to the creek to grab a fish and it misses, it doesn't feel bad about itself because it's designed to be that way. We all make mistakes so don't feel bad about yourself when we make mistakes. It's very normal, and all creatures do it.”
Healing can start in the smallest, most unforeseen places. If I hadn't literally gotten on my hands and knees, I wouldn't have been able to take this picture. So look deep down within yourself in the places that are normally hidden. And that's where the first seeds of healing may begin.
People and everything grow in all sorts of unexpected directions. But in our society, I think that there is an expectation to grow in a very certain way. And when we aren't able to do that, and we have to deviate because of our needs and because of who we are that can feel really shameful, or we can be embarrassed or feel like we're less than. So I think that something that would be helpful is having more positive and diverse representation of different people and their growth like simply for me, maybe like feeling more confident, feeling that I can be pretty and a baddy with my glasses. Seeing that representation of people who are confident, beautiful, and able to do and achieve what they want. I think that would be so helpful.
When you're masking, even though it keeps you safe and protected for a short amount of time. It could perpetuate like the suppression of emotions and that delays the healing process because you're holding back these emotions that you're declining to address properly. And so then the suppression of emotions could manifest into worse issues, like anxiety or depression or physical symptoms. And when you're suppressing those emotions, I'd say it's kind of like shaking up a bottle of soda, and then like putting the cap on it and refusing to just let that pressure escape. You're effectively building up the inner turmoil you have inside, and that could kind of explode at the worst times, and that could lead to things like you harming others, harming yourselves, or lead to just complete isolation. Because you've taken on so much. You're barely struggling to keep the cap on as is, you can't handle more interactions with more people, then you'll inevitably burst. And of course you don't want that. In the case of isolating yourself to protect yourself. You're hurting yourself more because you're depriving yourself of a support system and a network that can help you go through that healing process because healing is not something that has to be done alone.
This could represent a vulnerable person in an environment that's rough or challenging. But the cat's choice to rest there, it suggests resilience in the face of adversity, and that can highlight how vulnerability can coexist with adaptability and that ability of finding moments of comfort in difficult circumstances. It comes down to just the security you feel within yourself, and the ability to set boundaries in order to have that safe little bubble that you can dwell in.
Bees know that their efforts are essential to the success of the hive as a whole and in that same vein, confident individuals recognize their own worth, and they realize that they are able to make contributions that impact the world around them. Really, they're staunch defenders of their hive, they will defend fiercely when threatened. I think that ability to stand up so fiercely for something you believe in, or something that you feel is worth defending, that shows how confidence can be so empowering and it allows you to stand up for yourself and protect you and the topic you’re standing up for. That's part of healing and recovery from IPV. You have to stand up for yourself and be assured in the fact that you had no fault in what happened to you. You are a survivor.
Be around people who are similar to you and ideology, and somewhere where you fit in and feel comfortable.
Here you have a heterosexual cis man standing with someone who's dressed in drag. I think having the presence of them on stage suggests that you can be allowed to be two things and still exist in the same space. And that's something that I think is really important, especially when you're in recovery, is that you can be who you are and not have to feel like other people are against you. You don't have to feel like you're alone. That's something that's so important to remember. And I think the Drag Queen does a really good job of reminding us that confidence starts within. You don't have to get up on the stage and perform to people without fear. But what you do have to do is at least accept who you are in your essence, because that's the biggest first step for a lot of us survivors.
Learning about cultural practices can be a great part of healing because it feels really profound to think about how your own ancestors have dealt with things and how ancient some knowledge is.
Cultural heritage and identity is really being shown here, like that deep connection to heritage and identity through the array of items that you see. And I think that for people who need sanctuary sometimes, there's no better way to find a sanctuary, and to find comfort in who you are as a person, then to go back to your cultural roots and connect with things like necklaces or the lamp that we see here right in the middle of the picture. Sometimes items like this can serve as a grounding force and a reminder of our identity and our resilience in the face of adversity.
When you're on a swing ride like that you get the sense that you're flying and we normally relate the feeling of flight with like liberation and breaking free of the chains that bind you. I think it's the underlying reason of why we seek sanctuary because we want that space and ability to be able to fly, so to speak, and then I think it's also a sign of collective joy. We see this ride. There's a bunch of people all experiencing joy together and this could suggest a sense of community and just shared happiness. And for someone who doesn't have that sense of belonging, or they feel isolated. And they're seeking out that community, an image like this, I feel relates to sanctuary because it represents a place of belonging where people are being united by a common experience.
Healing and bringing people together is really necessary because not only does it show that a person isn't alone in their struggle, it allows them to build community through that fact you can find that you not only have so many shoulders to rest your head on when you need it, but you can do the same for others, and sometimes I think when we're healing we feel very useless. It's a lot of like shame and self-criticism. “How did I let myself get to this point where I'm at my very bottom and I have to crawl myself out of this hole.” To be able to not only help yourself, but help others in the process, I think, it’s so empowering, and it shows us our worth and value as human beings something that's often lost when we're trying to heal.
I told some friends of mine my story about my experience with IPV. And in the past I've been very careful about sharing that story because when I told it to people that like maybe weren't the right people to tell about it just because they weren't very good at responding to it, or they didn't respond in a way that was healing for me. It made me feel really awful and bad. So it's been something that I've limited sharing with other people. And so when I shared that with my friends, that was actually the first time that I had gotten a proper response about that story from a group of people, “Oh, my God! I'm so sorry that happened to you, that's awful.” And that was a really good experience for me, because that was what I'd wanted for so many years.
The sunset relates to healing because it's about having a fresh start, even when something is declining. Just because it is declining doesn't mean that you can't rise back up again.
For more information about Project Empower, please contact:
Stephanie Lim
Principal Investigator
projectempower@unl.edu