After having been held in a virtual manner in 2020, the 26th annual Clothesline Project is again open for visitors to attend in person.
The Clothesline Project is a collection of decorated T-shirts that represent the stories of victims of violence, as well as the stories of their family members and friends. The installation is being held in the main ballroom of UND’s Memorial Union. The project opened at 1 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 11, and will run through Friday.
The Clothesline Project runs from Monday until 8 p.m., and on Tuesday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. On Friday the installation can be seen from 8 a.m. until noon.
Allison Burkman, with the UND location of the Community Violence Intervention Center, said she is pleased to have the event open to the public again. Last year the project was featured in an online video. While that video was impactful, Burkman said an in-person experience with the project is more deeply meaningful.
“When you walk in here, all these individuals went through something, something horrible, something traumatic,” Burkman said. “Our hope is that if they went through their process of healing, that they're in a good space now.”
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The T-shirts are color coded, with each color representing a different aspect of violence.
The installation will also feature an empty table surrounded by chairs, representing people who have been killed as a result of violence. Each chair represents a different group of people: men, women, and more. One place setting, and it’s accompanying empty chair, is dedicated to Dru Sjodin, a UND student who was abducted and killed in 2003.
The event will also have an installation raising awareness of missing and killed indigenous women and children. The display features earrings, with the origin story of how it came about.
“Those a part of the Native community can drop off earrings, if they would like,” Burkman said.
Those wishing to attend the event can park on the ground floor of the ramp, just off the intersection of Columbia Road and University Avenue. The ramp can be accessed from University Avenue. Attendees need to download the smartphone parking application “Passport,” in order to pay for a space for a period of time.
UND CIVC is also holding the annual Take Back the Night rally on Oct 14. Typically featuring a march across campus, the rally will be held in the ballroom of the Memorial Union at 6 p.m. At 7 p.m. attendees will move to the smaller ballroom, where UND President Andrew Armacost will speak, as well as CVIC CEO Coiya Tompkins.
“I've never seen or even really heard of a university president taking that much initiative to talk about these issues,” Burkman said.
The rally is held to create a safe community through events that work to end domestic and sexual violence.
