real survivor stories

Victorious Voices is a survivor-led photography and testimony project bringing the experiences of adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse into public and cultural spaces. Created by photographer and survivor-activist Lee Cooper, the project combines black-and-white portraits with personal testimony to challenge silence, stigma and the ways survivors are too often represented by others.

Each portrait leads to a survivor’s story, shared in their own words and on their own terms. Together, these photographs and testimonies reflect the many different experiences of survival, each shaped by an individual life, identity and journey. There is no single survivor story and no prescribed path through trauma, healing or change.

By placing survivor portraits and first-person accounts side by side, Victorious Voices creates space for people to be seen as individuals rather than statistics, labels or experiences. The project centres consent, collaboration and narrative ownership, ensuring that every participant retains agency over how their image and words are presented.

Select a portrait to meet the person behind the image, read their testimony and encounter a growing cultural record of survival, voice and collective change.