Survivor’s Creed by Steven Musser and Kamdyn Alexis Love

Artist Statement: This collaborative piece combines the artistic stylings of Steven Musser (serving LWOP) with the real-life story of Kamdyn Alexis Love (serving virtual life). At the age of 13, Kamdyn was sextorted by adult men over a teen chat site. This sextortion evolved into Kamdyn being trafficked online and abused by at least hundreds of men. These men terrorized her, her family and community using her as a surrogate for their sick desires. They preyed on the fact that she lived in an abusive household and had no adults she could trust and turn to in her life for help. This abuse continued until she was 18, nearly 6 years, when she was finally arrested for acts she was being forced to commit. She cried out for help that fell on deaf ears. She even offered information on her abusers in order to verify the truth, which went ignored. Some of that information is invluded in this piece as the screen names of over 200 of her and her family's abusers are the smoke that make up the background of this painting. A handful of those abusers were arrested, not as abusers, but as lesser co-conspirators, some receiving as little as 5 years in federal prison, while Kamdyn received virtual life sentences of 45-90 years and 60 years, in the state and feds, respectively. You can see her name, as well as the names of other abuse victims rising from the ashes of the pheonix. A poem written by Kamdyn, "Survivor's Creed," is etched into the belly of the phoenix, a beacon of hope that all survivors will one day rise from the ashes of the damage our abusers have caused. Kamdyn still seeks not only justice, but an outlet to tell her story to the world in hopes that laws and the narrative changes: that victims will no longer be prosecuted, persecuted, and vilified for their abusers actions, and that socitey would focus more on healing victims than immortalizing abusers, and that society takes these abuses seriously so that no more lives are lost to abuse because victims feel that they have no way out except for to "comply or die," This are is dedicated to anyone who has every been victimized and in memoriam to those who have lost their lives to victimization. Please spread this word. Thank you.