At the University of Kansas, as at many college campuses across the country, it’s more common than not to see female students carrying a small container of Mace or clenching keys between their fingers, just in case of an attack, when walking by themselves at night.

As director of KU’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center, Jen Brockman is all too familiar with this phenomenon. The measures taken by women to protect against sexual assault — and the ways in which contemporary society normalizes these actions, Brockman notes, often placing the blame on victims instead of perpetrators — are the subject of “Guarded,” a traveling photography exhibition slated to make its KU debut Sunday at the Kansas Union Gallery, 1301 Jayhawk Blvd.

The installation features black-and-white photographs, each depicting a different woman and the items she carries (pepper spray, whistles, stun guns and the like) to protect herself.

“What this fantastic exhibit does is really, it’s a narrow lens of focus on what we view as ‘normal’ steps that female students instinctually take to increase their feelings of safety,” said Brockman, who first met photographer Taylor Yocom at the University of Iowa, where Brockman previously served as executive director of the university’s Rape Victim Advocacy program.

The threat of sexual violence is pervasive on college campuses, where statistically one in five women are victims of sexual assault during their academic careers, according to a survey published last year by the Association of American Universities.

“Guarded,” which originated as Yocom’s senior project while still a photography student at the University of Iowa in spring 2015, has since been featured in USA Today, Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post, among other outlets.

Many women, Brockman expects, will see themselves in the photographs come Sunday evening. During the exhibit’s opening reception, slated for 6 to 9 p.m., visitors will have the chance to pose for Yocom’s camera, contributing to the project. KU is the first venue on the exhibition’s tour to host a live studio, Brockman said.

And while female viewers may recognize the experience portrayed in the images as “universal,” at least for women and female-identifying individuals, their male counterparts might be surprised by what they see. But that’s OK, Brockman said. The idea here is to facilitate awareness.

Brockman hopes, ultimately, that someday the “Guarded” series will serve as historical documentation of how our culture once viewed sexual assault.

“It’s really in the hope of striking up that dialogue, whether it’s with female-identifying students or male-identifying students,” she said, of “What are we willing to accept?”

“Guarded” will remain on display in the Kansas Union Gallery through Sept. 24.