These images, while shocking and scary, are really powerful in showing that verbal abuse can leave huge scars just like physical abuse. Commercial photographer Rich Johnson, who created this series, called it "Weapon of Choice."
"We chose the name “Weapon of Choice” for this project because, for the abuser, using words to harm is a choice," the author behind this project explains.
All of the participants in this project have experienced verbal abuse at one point or another in their lives. To make the project even more personal, they were given abusive words to choose from, being asked to choose words that were significant to them. The photos are very graphic and realistic, even when you know it is just artificial make-up applied by world-class professional makeup artists.
If you want to see more photos of this project and support the author, be sure to check out his page.
More info: hurtwords.com (h/t: huffpost.com)
