In January last year New York photographer Aaron Williams started a new project motivated by the fact that the City had just reported over 7,121 hate crimes with a 30% increase of incidents after the election.

His brilliant photo essay was inspired by a particularly brutal incident when  late one evening while waiting for the 1 train, one man approached another, slurred you ‘You faggot!‘ then slashed him in the face and stabbed him in the leg. 

William decided consciously to quote ‘faggot’ in an effort to draw attention to the ever changing political environment, continued fight for civil rights, and to desensitize a generalized population, who have not yet felt the intense fear of being victim to hate.

The project took 100 hours over 21 days to shoot, and each model (including the victim of the crime that kickstarted this) was shot in a unique subway station and only during the hours of 11pm – 7am when most hate crimes occur. 

Sadly 12 months later and hate crimes against our community continue to grow and haunt us all.

All photographs copyright http://www.aaronkicksass.com/