A student's NSFW art project that depicts the aftermath of sexual assault went viral this week after she shared her creation on social media.
Nineteen-year-old Emma Krenzer created the project for an art class at Nebraska Wesleyan University. "I made this project largely for myself to actually visualize the lasting impact that touch can have on an individual," she told BuzzFeed News.
Krenzer took a photo of a friend, printed out a life-size copy of it, and then finger painted.
The artist said that she was "depicting touches from different people in [her] life."
"I thought about what was true for myself, and also, what I perceived to be commonly true for people in general, when I mapped out these touches," she said.
The map's legend explains what the different colors represent.
Krenzer finished the project the night she returned from the Women's March in DC. On Twitter, the completed work resonated with an overwhelming amount of people.
People were stunned by it.
It dominated this person's headspace.
And made a lot of people emotional.
Krenzer called her work's popularity "both heartbreaking and empowering."
"Some people told me they burst into tears after viewing the piece and others thanked me repeatedly for creating it. I really don't have the words to describe how it makes me feel," the artist said.
She attributes the response, in part, to her project's honesty.
"I think openness and vulnerability of it is allowing other people people to make themselves open and vulnerable as well," she said.