As a photographer, I was compelled to explore that great river of common experiences shared by diverse individuals. “Into the Light”, an artist’s book,  is among the results: cascading portraits, in concentrated repose, of individuals who have, among the other experiences that make them who they are, been sexually assaulted—a crime that can inflict wounds on the soul by way of the body without leaving a trace. 

A central theme of our public discourse about surviving sexual assault is voice: speaking out, breaking the silence, telling the story.  By not foregrounding the stories of my subjects or explaining the relationships within group portraits, I  invite us to see: to imagine a world in which the wounds inflicted by sexual violation are visible, allowing us imaginative access to the convulsive terror, loss of control, and harrowing isolation so many of our friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens have endured. At the same time, if we can see their wounds, perhaps we can also see their hard-won resilience and the extraordinary efforts they have made over time to reweave their lives into new patterns that take in what they have come to know.