Niño Angelo Magat raises domestic violence awareness through photography: Recognizing emotional and physical wounds

Soraya Bussatti is pictured here with bruises on her cheek and neck, designed with makeup to replicate what could be the result of domestic violence.

Rachel Dvareckas, Herald Contributor

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Freshman Niño Angelo Magat has taken this saying a step further in his Eagle Project about the issue of domestic violence.

Magat is an architecture major, who is working toward attaining the rank of Eagle in his Boy Scout troop, a feat very few have accomplished. 

He has created a website showcasing profound images of individuals dealing with domestic violence and abuse. The website includes links to statistics as well as resources for people who are affected by domestic violence. Magat began working on this project in the summer of 2018, as he was trying to figure out what to do for his Eagle Project.

 “The Eagle Project is essentially a community service project that I had to plan and coordinate. For my project, I worked closely with the Special Projects Coordinator of the Domestic Violence Resource Center of South County (DVRCSC), Anne Mulhall, in order to spread awareness about Domestic Violence and to also provide another link to resources that victims or their loved ones could use,” Magat said.

 Magat took his passion for photography and used it to create an awareness campaign that relies on social media to spread information. He gathered models to photograph and captured the images in a way that told the audience a story. The models in the photos are friends, troop members, his parents and volunteers he got from posting on social media.

 “The first volunteer, however, was Alejandro Jimenez, the president of the RWU class of 2020, and he helped me out a lot with getting this project started,” Magat said.

 There are a variety of different photographs on the website. Some of them picture models staring into the camera, models with tears running down their faces and those who are screaming. He also captured images of the different ways people are abused. In a few photos, a person is seen holding a belt. In another photo, a phone is in the hand of one of the models, showing a string of threatening text messages.

 Magat’s intention for this project was to spread awareness and to spark a conversation on the issue. Through the use of his photographs, he wants to make people realize that the issue of domestic violence and abuse is real and very serious.

 “The website will always be linked on my Instagram [@na.magat] and Twitter [@angelolmagat] and will always be up. As for reaching a wider audience, nothing spreads quicker than word of mouth,” Magat said.
 
Visit the website at namagat.com/break-the-cycle.