It’s On Me Artist Statement
Having been sexually assaulted on my last campus allowed for me to discover a new space that hadn’t been tainted for me. Though, this allowed a mindset of fear and almost a memory that had never happened. I saw places where things could very well happen as they happened to me on my previous campus.
Knowing that this would be stabbing an open wound and showing vulnerability I took on the project of recalling statements from my sexual assault, and printed them largely on 11x14 pages. I then went on to cut each letter out, to form the familiar phrases from that terrible event.
The next step was to walk around campus and find locations. They needed to be exclusive areas that seemed to be publicly inappropriate to have a sexual encounter, much like my personal situation. Where someone could still happen upon the sexual encounter but it was still private enough to where the perpetrator would thing it was acceptable.
Once the location was found, one of the statements from my personal sexual assault, was then taped to the wall, letter by letter, and then photographed. This was a very moving process in it’s performative aspect, a discarded and isolated feeling, while still so familiar.
At the end of this process, the words on the surface were left to be displayed. This is a message to the permanence of the act. As in: people may pass the stairs at school everyday, at my previous school, but little do they know what took place there and how much this affected my sexuality, my future, and my trust in people. rte
The phrases were checked on periodically and only one was tampered with and taken down. The rest remained and were slowly worn down and ripped apart by natural wearing. Certain people who knew I was doing this project reported back to me saying that they spotted the letters and other people reading them, and their reactions. Out of context some of the phrases may have been shocking and maybe a little concerning but so is sexual assault.
The name of the series is called It’s On Me. This is a reference to the project on college campuses nation wide called It’s On Us. It infers that the responsibilities and safety of sexual assault is on all of us, though the media often victim blames and favors the perpetrator. My title Its On Me implies the way that sexual assault makes the victim feel. It makes them feel as if it's their fault just as much as school boards and society blames the victim for it. When really they are the last one’s who should having the finger pointed at them.
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