This Student Made A Shocking And NSFW Art Piece That Depicts The Aftermath Of Sexual Assault

"This hit me so hard."

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.

The prompt for this project was to create some sort of map. I created a map of human touch on another humans body a… https://t.co/QJQxlOhg6X

People were stunned by it.

@nvrgonnagetlaid when i read what the red areas were my mouth dropped. This really is an amazing work of art, makes you think&appreciate

It dominated this person's headspace.

@nvrgonnagetlaid I've been thinking about this all day I love so much

And made a lot of people emotional.

@nvrgonnagetlaid I saw this tweet this morning right after I woke up and it was sooo breath taking. It's such an emotionally touching piece.

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.

Krenzer plans to make a larger series, inspired by this initial piece."I just really like working large scale with the human body and expressing important messages about it."

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