On October 3-4, several hundred members of the Miami community experienced The Clothesline Project on campus. The Clothesline Project is an interactive art exhibit that amplifies and uplifts the voices of survivors and victims of sexual and interpersonal violence (SIV) and raises the visibility of SIV as a continuing and serious problem.

The original Clothesline Project began in 1990 in Hyannis, Massachusetts. Displays can now be found all over the world. Miami’s involvement with The Clothesline Project began 21 years ago, in 1998, when the Ohio Coalition on Sexual Assault approached the Women*s Center about displaying a statewide version of the exhibit. The Clothesline Project has since been an annual fall feature at Miami University.

Each year, 25-30 new t-shirts are added to Miami’s display, which now includes several hundred shirts. Different colored t-shirts represent different experiences of sexual and interpersonal violence. Over 40 student volunteers helped with this year’s display, which also included an opening ceremony, information tables, and a complementary exhibit describing the many ways in which people with marginalized identities experience and are impacted by sexual and interpersonal violence in this country.