Clothesline Project

Did anyone go to the clothesline project earlier this month? If not, you really missed out. It was a display of tee-shirts that were decorated by women who were assaulted in some way.

 All the different colored shirts represented different stories. The yellow shirts were of women who were physically assaulted. The red, orange, and pink shirts all represented women who were raped. The blue and green shirts represented women who were raped or sexually assaulted by family members (incest). The purple shirts represented women who were assaulted because of their sexual orientation. The black shirts (which there were very few of) represented women who were assaulted due to their political standing. Worst of all, the white shirts represented women who were sexually or physically assaulted and died because of it. 

The large number of white shirts that I saw literally scared me and brought tears to my eyes. All of the white shirts were made by people who were close to these women. Most of them displayed a name, date of death, and the words “Rest in Peace.” The white shirts definitely stood out to me and touched me emotionally. Most of the white shirts that I read were of young women under the age of 18. Some were as young as 5. 

Almost every single shirt, though, had a glimpse of hope, faith, and forgiveness. Some symbols that I saw repeatedly were bible verses, stories, hope symbols, pictures of hearts, hands, birds, flowers, footprints, smiley faces, frown faces, tears, smiles, words, blood, crosses, sunshine, violence, pictures of people (themselves or their attackers), vast array of colors, torn pockets, acorns, alcohol, ages, and the word ‘virginity’.

It was a great display and I encourage everyone to attend next year!