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If their stories sound like secrets, it's because they are — or at least they were.

Now a handful of men and women are sharing their tales of surviving sexual violence in a new project aimed at empowering others to do the same.

"We want to demystify what this is," said Liz Coleman, one of the co-creators of the art project "Voices," which opened Friday in Salt Lake City. "There is a stigma. We're just hoping people will be able to express themselves and counter stereotypes that it's not OK to talk about it."

The project, a mix of audio recordings and visual art, will be on display at the Sorenson Unity Center for the next two months before being moved to another location in the city.

Coleman and her sister, survivors of sexual violence themselves, recorded the stories over a number of months at the Rape Recovery Center in Salt Lake.

"Someone else didn't think I was worth a second thought," Des, a Salt Lake City woman, says in one of the recordings. "A lifetime of pain, suffering, tears, heartache. All for a few seconds of feeling power over someone else. Why a child? Why me? Why not someone else?"

In creating the project, Coleman said hearing the survivor's deeply personal stories brought back memories of her own life, a childhood plagued by abuse.

"It was really tough," she said. "I don't know that I had anticipated how seriously this would affect me and trigger my own experiences."

Coleman said she hoped others would also find the stories moving. A part of the installation even gives visitors a chance to write their thoughts and post them for others to see.

Too often, Coleman said, victims keep their experiences to themselves for fear of what others might say. In her recording, Des tells of not wanting her parents to be ashamed.

"So I hide," she said. "I hide behind my shyness. I hide behind my books. I hide inside my mind."

The woman said hers is a "memory that replays in my head" and that her attacker left her "the shell of a girl who was violated."

But in finally speaking out, Des said she has started to take control of her life. "I'm still tortured by the memory of my attacker," she said. "But now I can finally cry. I can be OK. Everyone can survive and, for the first time, I can finally say that I am. I'm surviving." —

If you go

"Voices: Stories from Survivors of Sexual Violence" can be seen at the Sorenson Unity Center, 1383 S. 900 West, until the end of the year. The project will then be moved to another location in the city.

The center is open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. on weekends. Admission is free.