A Charlottesville-based nonprofit organization is helping piece together a mile-long quilt to cover the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in support of survivors of rape and sexual abuse. The project, called the Monument Quilt Project, is locally spearheaded by the Sexual Assault Resource Agency, a non-profit organization devoted to serving survivors of sexual assault who are residents of Charlottesville and surrounding areas.
Taylor Starns, crisis services coordinator for SARA, said they intend for the project to act as a collective statement in support of survivors.
“[The quilt] is part of a nationwide movement to build a monument to sexual assault survivors,” Starns said. “This work allows for folks to think of sexual violence as a collective issue.”
The Monument Quilt Project is organized on the national level by Force: Upsetting Rape Culture, a Baltimore-based group which describe itself as a “creative activist collaboration to upset the culture of rape and promote a culture of consent” on its website. The project is part of Force’s larger “Art Actions!,” a collection of events staged by the group to raise awareness and promote education about rape and sexual abuse, particularly focusing on the current government policies.
The quilt itself will be made up of individual squares created by either sexual assault survivors or by activists. The squares will then be stitched together and draped across the lawn on the National Mall.
“The small pieces represent individuals,” Starns said. “Stitched together, they represent the whole nation.”
Members of Force will ultimately design the quilt. At present, the group is collecting individuals squares from across the nation.
Starns said SARA reached out to the Charlottesville community through radio and press releases as well as to multiple locally and student-run organizations, including Women’s Initiative in Charlottesville, the University Women’s Center and student-run organization One in Four.
Third- year Commerce student James Burgoyne, a member of One in Four, said the national project effectively demonstrates the community of support which exists for survivors of sexual assault.
“[The project] goes along with the message of ‘not alone,’” Burgoyne said. “It helps [the survivors] to know that there is a community out there that knows you are ready to heal”.
The project is expected to be completed by spring 2015.
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