The shirts are color coded to show the form of abuse and whether the victim survived the abuse they experienced.

White represents women who died because of violence;

Yellow or beige represents battered or assaulted women;

Red, pink, and orange are for survivors of rape and sexual assault;

Blue and green t-shirts represent survivors of incest and sexual abuse;

Purple or lavender represents women attacked because of their sexual orientation;

Black is for women attacked for political reasons.

Event organized by Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, featuring a large number of shirts decorated by female victims of abuse and rape. Exhibited on August 26th, the 90th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote, this local showing was the 19th annual exhibition of this project in Portland Oregon.
The shirts portray grief, outrage, shattered spirits and incredible resilience in the face of often ongoing abuse and rape; some of the victims were as young as 4 years old.

The Clothesline Project, 13 Plymouth Road, Yarmouthport MA 02675 • ClotheslineProject@comcast.net