Exhibit: What Were You Wearing?

In recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Adams Library will be the site of the exhibit “What Were You Wearing?."  The exhibit will be available to view during normal library hours. Learning for Life and the Counseling Center are the hosts of the "What Were You Wearing?" Survivor Art Exhibit.

The exhibit originated at the University of Arkansas in 2013. Created by Jen Brockman and Dr. Mary Wyandt-Hiebert, the project was inspired by Dr. Mary Simmerling’s poem, "What I Was Wearing." Since then, the WWYW Exhibit has been recreated thousands of times and displayed on six continents. The exhibit aims to dispel the myth that the clothes a person is wearing can ever contribute to sexual violence and places the blame where it belongs, with the perpetrator.

Rhode Island College faculty, staff and students were invited to anonymously and voluntarily share brief descriptions of what they were wearing when they experienced sexual violence. These descriptions were used to recreate the outfits worn during the assaults.  Over 30 submissions were received. 

The exhibit asks participants to understand that it was never about the clothing. Sexual violence is not simply woven into the fabric of the material, it is a part of the survivor's new narrative. If only ending sexual violence was as easy as changing our clothes. Instead, ending sexual violence requires all of us to evaluate what enabled us as individuals and as a society to ask, “What were you wearing?” in the first place. It is our hope that the What Were You Wearing? Exhibit allows members of our survivor community to feel seen, heard, valued and believed.

This exhibit was made possible through the efforts of Learning for Life, the Counseling Center, and our collaborative partners across campus, including: Unity Center; Adams Library; Student Engagement & Leadership Engagement; Department of Counseling, Educational Leadership and School Psychology; RIC Bookstore; Donovan Dining.