Early this summer, Ithaca College junior Yana Mazurkevich turned heads across the country with “Dear Brock Turner,” a striking photo series designed to raise awareness of sexual violence. Now, Mazurkevich has once again turned the country’s attention to this important issue with a follow-up series, “It Happens.”
“It Happens” consists of nine photos depicting sexual assault. They show that “sexual assault can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime, without warning and without reason,” says Current Solutions, an advocacy group that helped Mazurkevich publish the series.
The photos can be viewed on the Current Solutions website (Note: While not graphic, the photos contain depictions of sexual assault that some may find upsetting.) Each photo is accompanied by testimony from a survivor of sexual assault.
The release of the photo series was timed to coincide with Brock Turner’s release from jail. Turner was convicted of sexually assaulting a young woman at Stanford University last year. The case gained national attention when Turner was sentenced to only six months in prison, well below the six years recommended by prosecutors and 14 years allowable by law.