In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) this April, five University of Wisconsin-Madison students partnered with University Health Services (UHS) to organize a ‘What Were You Wearing?’ art installation, an effort to challenge victim-blaming toward sexual assault survivors.
Currently on display at the Class of 1973 Gallery in the Red Gym, the exhibit holds 20 outfits UW-Madison students were wearing during their sexual assaults, and the anonymous testimony of the survivors who wore them. The collection is recreated with clothing donated by Madison thrift stores St. Vincent de Paul and Plato’s Closet.
“It’s a medium that really speaks to audiences,” Ashlyn Jakacki, one of the creators of the exhibit, said. “It shows that a lot of the time, you’re getting assaulted by someone you know and you love and you trust, while you’re sitting there wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants.”
Ever since the first ‘What Were You Wearing?’ exhibit was conceived at the University of Arkansas in 2013, campuses across the United States have put up the art installation as a way to tell survivors’ stories. Sofia More, one of the creators behind the UW exhibit, said both survivors and non-survivors can see themselves in the art.
“The entire point is that you need to care about it, because this is a thing that happens to real people and you never know how or when it could,” she said.
Jakacki and More, along with creators Laila Kirstein, Greta Hansen and Allison Bradley, said they were inspired to bring ‘What Were You Wearing?’ to Madison as a project for the class Psychology 322: Sexual & Relationship Violence Research & Activism.
Hansen said she thinks having the installation on campus is particularly important right now, as “our culture shifts toward misogyny and structures that silence women rise.”
“Survivors are being actively attacked, and that is something that absolutely contributes to the social landscape of our school,” she said.
Kirstein also noted how the exhibit includes a section featuring survey responses of UW-Madison survivors’ advice to other survivors in the community.
“It can be so isolating after an assault, between self blame and just living in a society where rape myths are so prevalent,” Kirstein said. “So we’re really excited to show survivors that they’re not alone — that they have resources and a place they can come to.”
The ‘What Were You Wearing?’ exhibit will be up until Monday, May 12.
Sreejita Patra is a senior staff writer and the former summer ad sales manager for The Daily Cardinal. She has written for breaking news, campus news and arts. She also covered the Oregon Village Board for the Oregon Observer.
