“What were you wearing” is a powerful statement and one that is often asked to victims of sexual assault. It is a common misperception that women are groped, sexually harassed, or raped in accordance with the “provocative” clothes they wear. The assumption that somehow the victim is at fault based on what she wears points blame on the victim. This is a process that needs to stop. The victim does not choose for this to happen and has no control over the incident.
My work addresses the harsh reality of victimization in relation to women’s experience with sexual assault. The bedsheets symbolize a safe space becoming stained and tainted, no longer a place of comfort due to the memory of trauma. The absence of the body relates to the hardships that victims undergo during recovery, often feeling alone, lost, and a shell of what once was. The installation provides the space to bring the attention away from fault cast on the victim, and instead to the remaining trauma the victim has to continue to endure.
