First established in 2017, the “I Am” Series is SAYSN’s primary public outreach project. At “I Am” Series events, survivors and supporters are invited to take photos with signs that say, “I am a sexual assault survivor, and I am _____.” or, “I support survivors, and I am with SAYSN.” Survivors are allowed to fill in the blank on their sign with any word or phrase they choose, with the aim to demonstrate that their victimization does not define them. The purpose of the project, as a whole, is to demonstrate the intersectionality of those impacted by sexual violence. In other words, it puts faces to the statistics on sexual victimization and shows those who have not came forward yet that a supportive community does exist.

“I Am” Series events have been held annually in Las Cruces, New Mexico, since 2017 (barring the COVID-19 pandemic) and are shot by local photographers. Since the first event, we have amassed a large collection of photos that populate our website and social media, and are a testament to the power of the project.

We are excited to announce that we are now accepting virtual submissions to this project! So, no matter where you are, you have a place in our story.

Want to submit your own photo? Read the guidelines below.

About the “I Am” Series

How to Submit

Step 1: Download and print a copy of the “I Am” Series sign(s)

You can access PDFs of our signs (both the survivor and supporter sign) from this link. Print it out on some white paper and you’re ready to get started!

Step 2: Fill in the blank on the sign with whatever word or phrase you would like, and take a photo with it!

If using the survivor sign, fill in the blank with any word or phrase you’d like (preferably with black marker). It doesn't matter if someone’s used it before. Once you’ve completed that, take a photo with it in whatever setting you’d like. Outdoors, indoors, you name it. Be creative!

If you would like to participate but prefer to remain anonymous, feel free to hold the sign in front of your face.

Step 3: Email your photo to iamsubmission@saysn.org with the subject line “I Am Submission - YOUR NAME - DATE”

In your email, please include: (1) the photo of you and (2) your social media handles (if you’d like). We accept the following file types: .png, .jpeg.

Step 4: Wait.

We will get to your submission in 2-6 weeks. If it’s approved, we’ll email you and let you know. If it’s rejected, we’ll email you and tell you why. If you haven’t gotten a response after 6 weeks, please follow up with us. Soon after your submission is accepted, you’ll see it on our website and social media—so keep an eye out!

Step 5: Share your photo on social media, tag us @SAYSNOfficial, and use the hashtag “#IAmSAYSN”

Feel free to share your picture on your social media account, tag us, and use our hashtag! While the photo is ours, it’s also yours. Do with it what you please.

Submission Guidelines

Submission Rules

(1) Please, please no explicit content in your photo. Especially if you are underage. As much as we love sex-positivity, we want to be mindful of our primary demographic (minors) and want to make sure that this project remains accessible to all.

(2) One submission, per person, per year. If you look through our gallery of photos, you may notice some faces popping up multiple times throughout the years. It’s great to see how our survivors and supporters grow and change, so we’ll never stop someone from participating more than once in our project. However, in the spirit of the annual “I Am” Series events, we are limiting the number of times someone can submit their own photo in one calendar year. If you submit more than one photo to us at a time, we won’t yell at you. We’ll just post one of them and you’ll have to resubmit the following year.

(3) We reserve the right to reject submissions that do not follow our guidelines. Any submissions that contain offensive, hateful language and/or content (e.g., transphobia, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, etc.) will not be accepted. Any submissions that are unreadable or of exceptionally poor quality will be rejected, with instructions to resubmit.

(4) If you submit and at some point decide that you’d like your photo removed from our collection, please feel free to email us at iamsubmission@saysn.org with your name and the date of your submission and we’ll take it down for you.

(5) By submitting a photo to our project, you consent to the image being used on SAYSN’s social media page, website, and promotional materials. Of course, we’ll stop using the image if you reach out to us and ask.

(6) If you have any questions, concerns, complaints, or compliments, please direct them to our email: iamsubmission@saysn.org!