Victorious Voices

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Victorious Voices

Victorious Voices is a survivor-led photography and storytelling project reclaiming visibility for survivors of sexual abuse.

Through powerful black-and-white portraiture we challenge stigma and reshape how survivors are seen in society. Through powerful black-and-white portraiture and first-person narratives, we challenge stigma, confront silence, and reshape how survivors are seen in society. Every image and story is shared on the survivor’s terms- centring dignity, strength, and the complexity of survival. Alongside exhibitions, publications, and public conversations, Victorious Voices is building space for survivor-led art to spark cultural change. Our work exists at the intersection of photography, advocacy, and systemic impact, making visible the people and stories that society often refuses to see. We believe visibility is power, and no survivor should be left unheard, unseen, or erased.

05/10/2026

Last Wednesday, Victorious Voices creator Lee Cooper had the privilege of speaking at UCLA in Los Angeles, delivering his talk ‘Letting Stories Breathe: Photography, Narrative, Identity and Survivor Agency.’

In 2022, Lee publicly disclosed that he is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. That decision changed his life in ways he expected, and in many ways he didn’t. It also led to the creation of Victorious Voices.

What started as an idea has grown into a survivor-led portrait and testimony project, reaching audiences through exhibitions, universities, conferences and public spaces.

At its heart, Victorious Voices is about seeing a survivor of childhood sexual abuse as a whole person, with an identity, relationships, ambitions and a life beyond what happened to them.

This was central to the talk at UCLA: the relationship between photography, narrative, identity and agency, and the responsibility that comes with making images of other people.

The talk also explored the importance of unfinished stories. Lee’s own criminal justice journey remains unresolved. Victorious Voices is still developing. The people within it continue to live, change and make sense of their experiences.

We are often encouraged to tell stories retrospectively, once everything has been resolved and a clear meaning can be imposed on what happened. Real life rarely works like that. There must also be room to speak while things remain uncertain.

Bringing this work to UCLA was an opportunity to share how photography can become a means of authorship, and how portraits and testimony can create space for survivors to represent themselves on their own terms.

There was joy in that room too. For work that emerged from something so difficult, being able to share it with confidence, connection and enjoyment feels worth recognising.

A huge thank you to tania love abramson and Paul for the invitation, their generosity, snd the opportunity to bring Victorious Voices to UCLA.

And thank you to everyone who has taken part 💛

📸 We’d love for you to join us on this journey.
🔗 Find out more via the link in our bio.

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17/09/2026

Join Patricia M Wennell on National Poetry Day for an evening bringing together poetry, visual art and memoir.

Patricia will be launching her new book Don’t Pass It On: Pay It Forward which is a collection of poetry and art exploring personal experience, connection and the stories we carry.

Meet the authors and artists, hear live readings and encounter the words and powerful visuals behind the work.

📅 Thursday 1 October 2026
🕖 7:00 pm
📍 The Manor at Bickley, Bromley
🎟️ Free entry

Places can be booked through Eventbrite, follow the link in our bio.

📸 We’d love for you to join us on this journey.
🔗 Find out more via the link in our bio.

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11/09/2026

It’s been another quiet week on social media, but there’s been plenty happening in the real world.

On Tuesday, Lee Cooper finally met with Manchester Deputy Mayor Kate Green, alongside shereen.leanne of Phoenix Five, to discuss the failings we have had to endure after reporting historical CSA and entering a broken criminal justice system.

It was a productive meeting with some clear actions agreed. The real test, as always, is what happens next.

On Wednesday, Lee was in London to take part in the Remembering Together project, run by Victoria Hoyle at the University of York. It was great to spend the day with Rob Balfour who runs Survivors West Yorkshire and Sophie Olson aka The Flying Child.

We also took one final Victorious Voices portrait that I we had hoped to capture, just in time before work begins on the production of our photobook.

A week of positive movement, good conversations and things beginning to move forward. 💛🗣️

📸 We’d love for you to join us on this journey.
🔗 Find out more via the link in our bio.

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24/08/2026

This weekend, Lee Cooper had the opportunity to take part in a series of workshops in Brussels led by Jessica Airey and her new organisation, the European Centre for Survivor Advocacy.

The sessions mostly focused on two essential areas of this work: safeguarding and strategy. We explored how survivor advocacy can be carried out responsibly, how we protect the people involved, and how we move beyond individual campaigns towards work that is focused, sustainable and capable of creating lasting change.

We also got to meet a European policy and advocacy expert to hear first-hand insights and ask questions on how all of this works in practice. There were visits to the European Parliament, and just as valuable was the opportunity to connect with people from across Europe who are working to challenge silence, improve systems and strengthen the influence of survivors.

This work can often feel isolating, particularly when so much of it is driven by lived experience. Being in a room with others who understand both its importance and its complexity was a powerful reminder that we are part of something much wider.

Thank you to Jessica for bringing us together and creating the space for honest discussion, shared learning and future collaboration. We are looking forward to seeing how the European Centre for Survivor Advocacy develops, and where these new connections might lead.

📸 We’d love for you to join us on this journey.
🔗 Find out more via the link in our bio.

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07/08/2026

Today, Victorious Voices is publishing a statement in support of our member Sera Cracroft , following comments directed at her by Huw Edwards and reported by BBC News.

Sera raised legitimate questions about accountability and the appropriateness of Edwards’ participation in the National Eisteddfod following his criminal conviction. She should be able to do so without being dismissed as one of “her type”.

Survivors and advocates must be able to participate in public debate, challenge institutions and question the actions of powerful figures without being reduced to a stereotype or subjected to personal disparagement.

Victorious Voices stands unequivocally with Sera.

Statement: https://lnkd.in/dFYYF-gx

📸 We’d love for you to join us on this journey.
🔗 Find out more via the link in our bio.

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28/07/2026

Yesterday marked an important milestone: a productive and encouraging meeting with Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales Claire Waxman OBE at the Ministry of Justice in London.

We discussed the critical failures Lee Cooper has experienced during his journey through the criminal justice system, which has been documented in a 278-page dossier submitted to the Commissioner. After years of fighting to have these issues recognised, it was meaningful not only to be listened to, but to feel genuinely heard.

Lee attended the meeting alongside a member of the Victorious Voices community who wishes to remain anonymous for now. They have also experienced profound institutional failures during a journey spanning more than 20 years.

The meeting followed my discussion two weeks ago with MP Yasmin Qureshi, which Lee attended alongside shereen.leanne who is also fighting for reform after a brutal five-year journey to secure the conviction of her perpetrator. Shereen is doing important work through her Phoenix Five initiative.

The Ministry of Justice offices are modern, polished and efficient with security pods at the entrance move people through the building quickly. The contrast with the disinterested G4S security guard and (literally) crumbling corridors encountered at Minshull Street Crown Court last week was telling.

The same dossier was also sent to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which has still neither acknowledged receipt nor provided a response.

The Victorious Voices community are grateful to Claire Waxman for the time, attention and seriousness she gave to these experiences yesterday. We now look forward to seeing how the conversation develops.

📸 We’d love for you to join us on this journey.
🔗 Find out more via the link in our bio.

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24/07/2026

Yesterday was a monumental day. After almost five years of waiting, Lee Cooper finally attended court to give evidence and be cross-examined. What can be said is that the recorded video will now sit on file until the trial that is currently listed for May 2028, and an enormous part of his involvement in this process is now over.

The trial was originally due to take place in March this year, following a two-year wait. Three days before it was due to begin, it was vacated and postponed for a further two years because no courtroom was available.

He refused to wait that long and instead of his withdrawal being accepted he was offered the option of this Section 28 recorded cross examination.

On Monday, he will be in London at the Ministry of Justice meeting the Victims Commissioner. In August, he will attend an international advocacy workshop in Brussels. In September, he will return to Los Angeles to speak at UCLA about the work with Victorious Voices.

He wouldn’t have made it to this point without the support of Victorious Voices community. We are creating change and life is good 💛

📸: Harmeet Singh

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30/06/2026

On Friday Lee Cooper was in Birmingham for the sentencing hearing of a Victorious Voices community member and the culmination of a 20-year battle for justice.

My friend first reported their perpetrator in 2005 and was told there would be no further action. The Crown Prosecution Service ordered a reinvestigation in 2018, which was then closed in October 2021. It was reopened in December 2021 following a Victims’ Right to Review.

In November 2023, multiple charges against multiple people were finally brought forward.

The trial took place in October 2025 and the perpetrator was found guilty on all counts.

The first sentencing hearing in January was cancelled, but this was only communicated to those who had already turned up at court as planned. The second hearing in March was cancelled the day before it was due to take place.

The third hearing finally went ahead on Friday, but the perpetrator was allowed to appear by video link rather than attend in person to hear the Victim Impact Statements.

Those statements were powerful and moving. The perpetrator smiled and shook his head throughout. But he stopped smiling and stopped shaking his head when he was told by the judge he would spend the next 22 years in prison.

He is 74 and likely froze at the realisation he is going to die alone behind bars.

It was a powerful day, and a privilege to be there for my friend, who has been a great support throughout my own case. I will be in court on 10th July for a Section 28 pre-recorded cross-examination, which will then sit on file until trial in May 2028.

Next month, we will be meeting the Claire Waxman OBE, to present a wider body of evidence about the failures CSA survivors continue to face across policing, prosecution and the courts. Failures that need to be acknowledged and addressed.

📸 We’d love for you to join us on this journey.
🔗 Find out more via the link in our bio.

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07/06/2026

This a powerful quote from

Jeremy has spent years working to create change through education, advocacy and safeguarding. Through his platform , he has helped bring difficult conversations into schools and communities across the country.

What stands out about Jeremy is his belief that change is possible when people are willing to challenge what has been accepted for too long. His words remind us that progress is not inevitable, it only happens when enough people decide that the status quo is no longer acceptable.

Victorious Voices exists for change and to create something better than what came before. Thank you, Jeremy, for being part of the project and for the work you continue to do to help keep children safe and change the conversation.

📸 We’d love for you to join us on this journey.
🔗 Find out more via the link in our bio.

Share, speak, support 💛🗣️

01/06/2026

Today we are proud to share the portrait of 📸

Over the past five years, Jeremy has worked tirelessly to create - a platform dedicated to giving CSA Survivors a voice and helping to create safer environments through safeguarding education in schools across the country.

Through his work, Jeremy has helped open important conversations around safety, wellbeing, and the experiences of young people, ensuring that difficult subjects are no longer ignored.

Victorious Voices exists because of people who are willing to challenge silence, create change, and support others to tell their stories. Jeremy’s dedication to that mission has made a real difference to countless young people and communities.

Thank you, Jeremy, for your time, your work, and for being part of this project 💛🗣️

📸 We’d love for you to join us on this journey.
🔗 Find out more via the link in our bio.

Share, speak, support 💛🗣️

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Website

https://www.placesnowhere.com/victorious-voices

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