Portraits of Resilience
Portraits of Resilience feature images of survivors of torture from around the world who fled their home countries seeking safety, recovery, and political asylum. The ongoing photo series is presented in collaboration with British photographer Jonathan Banks, the survivors, and Torture, Abolition, and Survivors Support Coalition International.
Most participating survivors were tortured by repressive governments for reasons varying from joining oppositional political parties to being persecuted for their religion or sexual orientation. To center the voices and stories of the survivors, Banks has asked each person to select a photograph of significance to them to be projected onto their portrait. The series poses questions about the place, home, and humanity amidst the growing global refugee crisis.
About TASSC
TASSC takes an integrated and survivor-centered approach to its work with survivors of torture. All of our staff work with survivors through a trauma-informed and strength-based perspective, focusing on resilience and each survivor’s own strengths as they move toward a brighter future. We work with, not for survivors as they move toward achieving their goals. Our interdisciplinary model also allows for coordination of care that addresses all aspects of a survivor’s wellbeing – from the community and social connection to legal, psychological, and medical support. TASSC addresses the wide range of each survivor’s physical and emotional needs and offers support at each step as they find the care and strength they need to recover.
About the Photographer
Jonathan Banks is an award-winning British photographer with over 25 years of experience collaborating with charitable organizations and NGOs documenting important humanitarian campaigns and human rights concerns. Banks has photographed in over 80 different countries, documenting subjects as diverse as mask dancing festivals in Burkina Faso, the effects of the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, and the aftermath of 9/11 in New York. Banks’ photography regularly features in international editorial publications and is the visual content of several books. His photographs have been widely recognized by numerous awards and he has exhibited his photography globally including notable shows at the European Parliament, on the Times Square screens in New York, as part of the Exposure Awards at the Louvre in Paris, and at the “Beauty of Humanity” Art Basel festival in Miami.
IMAGE: Photograph selected by survivor Roopbaan (pseudonym) from Bangladesh.
Survivors often feel very alone, and most have left all their family and friends behind. TASSC helps provide survivors with a community. Please encourage a survivor with a simple message of support today. We will deliver your messages to survivors who need your kind words.
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