By Mya Koch From TRIBLIVE

Amy Martin Friedman said she married the wrong man when she was in her 20s.

She recounts the final straw.

“Although I did get out before a bruise was placed on my face, he went up for a punch, and I cowered down like a dog getting ready to take the hit. This fear that came over me… I thought ‘Oh, my God, what has happened to me?’ I looked at my face, swollen from so much crying. I hated who I was at that moment.”

Friedman, a photographer based in San Francisco, is coming to Pittsburgh this month to partner with the Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh and the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office for the awareness- and fundraising project A Day in My Shoes.

The initiative helps victims of domestic abuse to get back on their feet and offers a way for some of them to share their stories.

Friedman photographs women wearing their favorite shoes and asks them to write a story about how they found a sense of empowerment.

The stories accompany the photos in a book and during a gallery show, the latter set for October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

BRINGING IT HOME

The local portion of the project was started by 27-year Sewickley resident Cynthia Liefeld, who became aware of it during a trip to Grand Cayman Island, where she has a cottage.

She saw one of the project’s books and wanted not only to be photographed herself but to do something more.

She has been involved for about two years and got A Day in My Shoes approved as a formal nonprofit organization in April, after beginning the process in December 2014. Now, donations are tax-deductible.

She is president of a board that was formed to oversee the project nationally and internationally.

Friedman is the group’s creative director.

The national project started May 31, 2009, to raise funds for the Asian Women’s Shelter of San Francisco but has grown across the United States and Grand Cayman.

Events have been held in California, Maryland, New York, Oregon and Florida.

The Pittsburgh installment will be the 17th, and the program has raised almost $400,000 to date.

A GREAT PAIR OF SHOES

“I loved the message of having women pose in shoes that made them feel good or powerful because most women can relate to the sense of well-being in a great pair of shoes,” Liefeld said.

Liefeld, who did not suffer abuse, said that she knew she was a “pretty powerful woman in a lot of ways from the time I was 10,” so she wrote about that for the project’s book in Grand Cayman.

“But I wanted to bring the project to Pittsburgh because we have some incredibly strong women in Pittsburgh,” she said.

During each event, five survivors from local shelters are invited to participate in the photo shoot at no cost, while other participants’ donations cover the survivors’ photos and a gift to that shelter.

All models remain anonymous, with no faces being shown.

FOR THE ARTIST, IT’S PERSONAL

Friedman divorced her first husband and has remarried.

Her two boys, 9 and 11, will accompany her to Pittsburgh.

“Every time I hear one of these women’s stories, it helps my heart to heal, too,” Friedman said.

In Grand Cayman, she heard stories of abuse. One woman was set on fire by her ex.

“A woman who had been starved by her husband, her story made me sob, so so much,” she said, that the photo “was crap. I’ll just say it, but my heart is beyond attached to her.

“That’s the whole point of this project.”

Liefeld hopes Pittsburgh participants realize the impact they can have. “This, for me, was a way to find new women to be supportive of such an important project,” she said.

For more on this story go to: http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yoursewickley/yoursewickleymore/8459486-74/project-women-pittsburgh#ixzz3c6q9x37J