<div> With <i>Unspoken </i>Lorena Ross reveals the stories of a group of adult men and women, all survivors of childhood sexual abuse perpetrated by people who were close to them. Their ages range, as do their backrounds - they hail from different countries: Spain, France, the United States and Mexico.<BR> <br> Sexual abuse is prevalent and wide spread - in Western countries a quarter of women and more than ten percent of men have been sexually abused by adults before they reach the age of seventeen. Regardless of the high number of instances, speaking out about child sexual abuse remains taboo in Western societies. The shame surrounding child sexual abuse renders victims silent and revives their trauma. While the disturbing nature of abuse has been exposed in the media, the stories tend to either sensationalize the details or simply present cold and hard statistics--and both approaches have been detrimental to efforts in breaking the silence.<BR> <br> In <I>Unspoken, </I>the photographer has taken a different approach to telling the survivor's stories, an approach guided by her own experience of surviving abuse, as well as the process itself. She aims to use these stories to help bring an end to the violence and the shame. They were victims as children but now they see themselves as survivors, no longer trapped in the trauma. They shared their stories with me to encourage others to speak out and help break the taboo--a taboo that only perpetuates the original abuse.<BR> <br> During her six year project, she became close to the people whose stories she helped to tell. With portraits and interviews, she recorded their testimonies. They shared their private world and recalled trauma from years prior. In some cases they took her to places associated with their abuse, and showed her triggers related to the traumatic event--and with a camera she captured their memories.<br> </div>