‘Clothesline Project’ Returns for Domestic Violence Awareness Month
The Title IX office at SUNY Plattsburgh will host several events and initiatives throughout October in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Kim Irland, Title IX coordinator, said there are several events planned throughout the month, including the nationally recognized “Clothesline Project” campaign for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and candlelight vigils, including “Be the Light to End the Dark: Show Up in Support of Survivors of Sex Trafficking and Sexual Violence,” this Saturday, Oct. 4, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Trinity Park in downtown Plattsburgh.
The “Clothesline Project” follows during the first full week in October, from Monday the 6th through Friday the 10th. Beginning 11 a.m. Oct. 6 in the Angell College Center, students, faculty and staff can stop by the project table to design a tee shirt that represents their experience with violence.
Tee Colors Represent Experienced Violence
Irland said in an effort to expand and add to the collection of tees she has from years past, she’s purchased a supply of tees in colors representing the different types of violence someone may have suffered themselves or witnessed in their lives.
The project has its roots on Cape Cod when artist Rachel Carey-Harper learned that nearly the same number of women — 51,000 — were killed by men who claimed to love them as were solders killed in Vietnam at the same time — 58,000. Bringing the concept to the Cape, the first Clothesline Project was launched in 1990.
The idea is that shirts, displaying a range of abuse, are one-of-a-kind creations that are personal to the individual who makes it, Irland said. Colors include:
- White for women who died as a result of violent acts
- Yellow or beige for women who have been battered or assaulted
- Red, pink and orange, for women survivors of rape and sexual assault
- Blue or green, for women survivors of incest and sexual abuse
- Purple or lavender, representing women attacked due to their sexual orientation
Some clotheslines include brown or grey, for survivors of emotional, verbal or spiritual abuse. And black represents women assaulted and permanently handicapped as a result of violence or who were abused because they are disabled.
“I will mix the new shirts that are created this year in with the ones we’ve collected over the years,” she said.
And like the quilts created worldwide that represent the millions of men and women
who have died from AIDS, the clothesline tee shirts evoke a somber reaction, “but
it also helps elevate the importance of recognizing that we don’t always know what
we think we see, or how people present themselves and how they survive or memorialize
those who have not survived,” Irland said.
The clotheslines will hang in the stairwells around the Angell College Center as in years past throughout October.
“If anyone is thinking about making a tee shirt, but they don’t want to do it in a public space at the table, they can take the shirt and return them to my office for inclusion on the clothesline,” Irland said.
Additionally, if the tabling hours of 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. don’t work, people can reach out to Irland in her ACC office and make a shirt later, she said.
A new Domestic Violence Awareness Month initiative at SUNY Plattsburgh is Purple Thursday, Oct. 23, Irland said.
A collaborative, creative idea between Irland and Michael Thompson, Affirmative Action officer and special projects coordinator in the campus DEI office, Purple Thursday will bring people together for a photo calling attention to domestic and dating violence awareness.
“We will recruit people to wear purple — I’ll have a number of purple shirts branded for SUNY Plattsburgh, available first-come, first-served,” Irland said. “We’ll gather on Memorial Field Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. and form the shape of a purple ribbon and take an aerial photo. We’d love a good turnout.”
Another opportunity to show support is a candlelight vigil sponsored by Behavioral Health Services North Saturday, Oct. 25 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Warren Ballrooms, Angell College Center with a tentative gathering at the firepit in Courtyard Plaza to follow.
“The whole month is designed to call attention to the way domestic and dating violence affects people in different ways and to alert people to behaviors that lead to harm,” Irland said.
For more information on Domestic Violence Awareness Month initiatives, the Clothesline Project at SUNY Plattsburgh and Title IX, contact Irland at 518-564-3280, email [email protected] or visit https://www.plattsburgh.edu/plattslife/health-safety/title-ix/events.html.
— Story, File Photos by Associate Director of Communications Gerianne Downs
