Power of Women's Clothesline Project collection

The Clothesline Project is a display created by survivors of violence and those in support of survivors. The personal narratives and graphic messages illustrated on the shirts are a testimony to the reality of violence and the strength of the survivors. The shirts are placed on a clothesline and are displayed in public places for viewing.

The Clothesline Project started in Cape Cod, MA, in October 1990. Thirty-one t-shirts addressing the issue of violence against women were displayed on the village green in Hyannis as part of the annual "Take Back the Night" rally. The project was the brainchild of a small core of women, many of whom had been affected by domestic violence, who wanted to create a way of expressing the problem in the form of an "in-your-face" educational and healing tool. Inspired by the AIDS quilt, artist Rachel Carey-Harper came up with the idea of using t-shirts hanging on a clothesline: Doing the laundry has traditionally been women's work, and women often communicated with one another whilst hanging out their laundry.

After the first 1990 Clothesline Project event, a small piece appeared in Off Our Backs magazine. This piece was picked up by Ms magazine and the project expanded dramatically. Over the following years other magazines (including Shape and USA Weekend) published articles about the project, with the result that it grew from a local grassroots effort into a large-scale national campaign.

Currently it is estimated that between 50,000 and 60,000 shirts have been decorated, and projects are running in 41 states and 5 countries.

At Georgia State University, Power of Women organized their first Clothesline Project in 2000. The 3rd Annual Clothesline Project took place March 18-22, 2002, and throughout the week, t-shirts were hung on lines across the University Plaza.

Power of Women is a Georgia State University student organization affiliated with the Women's Studies Institute. They are committed to making feminism and feminist issues and philosophies visible and relevant to the Georgia State University campus, and to developing a focus on personal awareness and issues affecting female and male students by organizing activities, presenting information, and providing education on gender and human rights issues. Some of the programs they have sponsored include visiting classrooms, attending the Georgia Women's Assembly (1999), volunteering for the Feminist Women's Health Center, starting "Voices of active Resistance: Power of Women's Sexual Assault Education Campaign," (2000) and "Sexual Assault on Campus Rountable" (April 2003). Power of Women is sponsored by GSU's Offices of Diversity Education and Health Promotion, Georgia Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Alliance, Campus Civitans, Social Work Club and by the International Student Association Council.