April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and the 20:1 Prevention Programs at Binghamton University is at the helm of spreading this awareness. The program has two critical art installations for this mission: the Dragon Panel Project and the Clothesline Project. The Dragon Panel Project focuses its attention on women of color who have been victims of violence, including political, interpersonal and hate violence. The Clothesline Project is focused on women’s experiences of gender, domestic, political and sexual violence.
The Dragon Panel Project was created in 2019 by Rachel Carey-Harper, who had seen the problems in society that led to horrible violence against women of color. She noticed how public outrage always happened after these stories broke out, but after a while, everything died back down. To combat this and make people remember the stories from the past, she created the Dragon Panel Project. In the exhibit, each panel of stories connects to make a dragon, which in effect links these stories altogether. Dara Raboy-Picciano, co-founder and coordinator of 20:1 Prevention Programs, said this layout was important for showcasing the stories.
“In connecting it, it helps people gain awareness about the problem so they begin to view it as a systemic problem,” Raboy-Picciano said.
Held at the Glenn G. Bartle Library and at the Bundy Museum of History and Art, the Dragon Panel Project features the story of different women of color who went through horrible, traumatic violence on each panel. Some women were killed by domestic, political or discriminatory violence. There were stories of women of color who were victims and survivors of sexual violence as well, including women of color in America and across the world, such as a panel dedicated to the death of 41 girls in a Guatemalan group home where the local police failed to act despite hearing the women inside the burning building. Famous figures known worldwide, such as Malala Yousafzai and Oprah Winfrey have their own panels too. The dragon panels covered a wide variety of stories of violence that point to deeper issues within our world. The panels were vibrant and tell the stories in a blunt but very fitting fashion. They are presented at eye level as you walk through the panels surrounding you.
The Clothesline Project represents all types of violence against women and raises awareness of these situations. Shirts are held up on a clothesline that shows writings of quotes and statements representing the women’s perspective of dealing with these acts of violence and pushing for change. The shirts are color-coded for different forms of abuse victims and survivors have dealt with. Black shirts, for example, are symbolic of women that have been attacked for political reasons while white shirts are for women who have died as a result of violence. This project shows how to identify these acts of violence and possible preventions for them.
The 20:1 Prevention Programs will host other events as well throughout Sexual Assault Awareness Month. On April 28, they will observe Denim Day, when women submit photos of themselves in jeans. This day is rooted in the story of a woman who reported a sexual assault case in Italy, but the perpetrator was found not guilty because her jeans were too tight, which labeled them as promiscuous clothing. Protesting this problem is how Denim Day came to fruition. Another event on April 15 and April 27 is a Netflix Party event for the movie “Roll Red Roll,” which is about the 2012 Steubenville, Ohio football team sexual assault case. The school colludes to protect the assailants and silence the victim. Raboy-Picciano discussed the main goal with these programs.
“When you build people’s awareness especially about a topic that people tend to be silent about, or is completely unseen,” Raboy-Picciano said. “The idea is if we can talk about and have that awareness we can begin to understand our role in creating culture change.”
The Dragon Panel Project will be around throughout the rest of April at the Bartle Library and the main exhibition at the Bundy Museum of History and Art at 129 Main St. in Binghamton. The Clothesline Project will be at Hinman Success Center from April 10 to 17, Mountainview College from April 17 to 24 and the Susquehanna Community area office from April 24 to May 1.