In November, our Domestic Violence Chair, Diane Franklin, participated in a local Clothesline Project. Domestic violence survivors attended an en event designed to empower survivors. As part of the event, survivors created postcards as a healing tool similar to the first event in Massachusetts.
History of Clothesline Project
According to the Men’s Rape Prevention Project in Washington, DC, 58,000 soldiers died in the Vietnam war. During that same time, 51,000 women were primarily killed by men who supposedly loved them. In the summer of 1990, that statistic became the catalyst for a coalition of women’s groups on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to consciously develop a program that would educate, break the silence and bear witness to one issue – violence against women.
This small, core group of women, many of whom had experienced some form of personal violence, wanted to find a unique way to take staggering, mind-numbing statistics and turn them into a provocative, “in-your-face” educational and healing tool.
One of the women, visual artist Rachel Carey-Harper, moved by the power of the AIDS quilt, presented the concept of using shirts – hanging on a clothesline – to raise awareness about this issue. The idea of using a clothesline was natural. Doing the laundry was always considered women’s work, and in the days of close-knit neighborhoods, women often exchanged information over backyard fences while hanging their clothes out to dry.
The concept was simple – let each woman tell her story uniquely, using words and/or artwork to decorate her shirt. Once finished, she would then hang her shirt on the clothesline. This very action serves many purposes. It’s an educational tool for those who view the Clothesline; it becomes a healing tool for anyone who makes a shirt – by hanging the shirt on the line, survivors, friends, and family can turn their back on some of that pain of their experience and walk away; finally, it allows those who are still suffering in silence to understand that they are not alone.
October of 1990 saw the original Clothesline Project with 31 shirts displayed on a village green in Hyannis, Massachusetts, as part of an annual “Take Back the Night” March and Rally. Women came forward to create shirts throughout the day, and the line kept growing.
Read the rest of the article here.
