Student Develops Powerful Photo Series To Protest Brock Turner’s Release From Jail

Brock Turner was sentenced to just six months in jail after raping an unconscious woman and has already been released from jail—after serving only three months.

His name has been splattered everywhere since his outrageous sentence was announced and went viral, inspiring anger and activism against rape sympathizers.

Now that he’s been released, Ithaca College student Yana Mazurkevich released an impactful photo series that depicts scenarios of sexual assault and addresses issues surrounding assault in one fell swoop. The series was created in conjunction with Current Solutions, a sexual assault advocacy group, and is titled “It Happens.”

What’s even more alarming about the photos is the deadpan stare that the victim gives the viewer of the photos. The stare is disturbing, to say the least, and a range of emotions is portrayed in this one bold, artistic decision.

Browse the series below:

Mazurkevich created an initial photo series titled “Dear Brock Turner” that she later realized left a lot to be desired. After going viral and being picked up by the New York Times and Huffington Post, she scoured the comments section and addressed the problem of exclusivity in her series. In this new creation, she included people of different races and scenarios involving same-sex assault.

This particular photo is especially disturbing because it depicts what occurred on the night Brock Turner assaulted his victim, referred to as Emily Doe. She was wearing a dress that was actually pulled all the way up to her shoulders, a beige cardigan that her sister joked about, boots, and her underwear was pulled all the way down.

The young photographer claims that she pushed for more graphic images this time in order to reach people with the “wow” factor. She told The Ithacan,

“In the second series, I really went for assault, like pure physical assault, and making it seem like it’s real. Just really in your face, like, I’m looking at a person assaulting another person.”

That’s what makes this series so powerful; one look at these images and you feel compelled to help and to respond, rather than just sympathize and move on.

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