These sounds speak louder than statistics on behalf of women survivors and victims of violence in North America. So do multi-coloured t-shirts. Together, they form the basis for the Clothesline Project, a visual and audio display of violence against women.
"Similar to the AIDS quilt, the Clothesline Project started in the U.S. six years ago to put a human face on statistics about violence against women," said Laurie Minuk, a counsellor in the Women Students' Office (WSO).
"The idea of a clothesline displaying t-shirts decorated to represent women's experiences with violence emerged from the old adage about not airing our dirty laundry in public," she explained.
Minuk is co-ordinating the introduction of the Clothesline Project to UBC, its first appearance in Western Canada.
In a series of workshops facilitated by counsellors from the WSO, participants in the Clothesline Project will be provided with a time and place to decorate their own t-shirts. Those who prefer to complete their t-shirts in private may bring or mail them to the WSO.
"Issues raised for women in an exercise like this can be a major part of the healing process for someone who may not have had any other opportunity to talk about their experience," Minuk said.
Just as the number of beatings, rapes and deaths women suffer each day across North America is represented by gongs, whistles and bells on a soundtrack that will play during the workshops, the t-shirts have been colour-coded for different types of violence: yellow or beige for assault; red, pink or orange for sexual assault; blue or green for incest or child sexual abuse; purple or lavender for assaults against lesbians; and brown for assaults on women of colour.
In order to express their loss, family members and friends of women who have died as a result of violence will be provided with white t-shirts.
The project is intended for UBC women students. Two public showings will take place at the SUB Gallery: Dec. 2 - 6 to honour the memory of the women killed at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique; and next March to coincide with International Women's Day.
The first series of workshops takes place Sept. 20, Sept. 27 and Oct. 4. Pre-registration is required. T-shirts will be provided, or participants may bring their own.
Donations of plain, coloured t-shirts, fabric paints and sewing materials are needed. For information, or to make a donation, call the WSO at 822-2415.