About this Exhibition

In October of 2011, the Survivor’s Art Circle (SAC) participated in the The Clothesline Project (CLP) to express their experience with domestic violence and/or sexual assault using a shirt as their canvas. The CLP was created in 1990, by a coalition of women’s groups in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The concept was simple – let each woman tell her story in her own unique way, 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 acts as an educational tool for those who come to 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 literally 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.

In October of 2011, the Survivor’s Art Circle (SAC) participated in the The Clothesline Project (CLP) to express their experience with domestic violence and/or sexual assault using a shirt as their canvas. The CLP was created in 1990, by a coalition of women’s groups in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The concept was simple – let each woman tell her story in her own unique way, 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 acts as an educational tool for those who come to 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 literally 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.

The women in the SAC chose what color shirt they wanted to create on to represent the type of abuse they experienced. The color-coding used by The Clothesline Project is as follows:
*Yellow/Beige: Battered women
*Red, Pink, Orange: Rape and sexual assault survivors
*Blue, Green: Incest and sexual abuse survivors to sexual orientation
*Black: Designation of your choice