The Clothesline Project provides an opportunity for women to bear witness to their personal experience of violence, and celebrate their transformation from victim to survivor in a powerful statement of solidarity.
The Clothesline Project began in 1990 when members of the Cape Cod Women's Agenda hung a clothesline across the village green in Hyannis, Massachusetts with 31 shirts designed by survivors of assault, rape and incest. Women viewing the clothesline came forward to create shirts of their own and the line just kept growing.
Since that first display the Project has grown to 300+ local Clothesline Projects nationally and internationally, with an estimated 35,000 shirts. The Clothesline Project has become a distinctive resource for healing from violence and creating social change. Lines have been displayed at schools, universities, State Houses, shopping malls, churches, and women's events. The first National Display took place April 8-9, 1995 in Washington D.C. in conjunction with NOW's Rally For Women's Lives.
Similar to the AIDS quilt, the Clothesline Project puts a human face on the statistics of violence against women. The Project increases awareness of the impact of violence against women, celebrates a woman's strength to survive, and provides an avenue for her to courageously break the silence. Families and friends of women who have died as a result of violence can make a shirt to express their deep loss.
One of the beauties of this project is its simplicity. Survivors need not be artists to create a moving personal tribute. Whether they choose to use paint, magic markers or elaborate embroidery to create their shirt is up to them. The power is in the personal.
The Clothesline Project is about direct, personal violence against women and shirts are color-coded for different types of violence:
(These colors are not mandatory if a different color has special significance.)
If you would like to create a shirt bearing witness to your personal experience of violence and contribute it to the Project, or if you'd like to volunteer to work with your local Clothesline, call the National Network Office number given below and ask for the contact name for the Clothesline Project nearest you.
If you would like to start your own line, sponsor shirt-making sessions and coordinate their display, the National Network Office has organizer packets. Please realize this involves a long-term (but personally rewarding) commitment.
If you or an organization you're involved in would like to display a local Clothesline, call the National Network Office to find out if one exists in your area and who the contact person is.