Exhibition “What were you wearing? The survivors of sexual violence respond”

“Don’t ask. It’s not important.” Presentation and screening of the video-story against violence against women promoted by Vice President Maria Edera Spadoni with the support of the Chamber of Deputies and the collaboration of the Centro Antiviolenza Cerchi d’Acqua with the participation of Paola Cortellesi. On 25 November 2020 at 10.00 am, live streaming from the Chamber of Deputies web TV and at 11.30 am on Maria Edera Spadoni’s FB page.

For the first time on 8 March 2018, the Cerchi d’Acqua anti-violence centre held the exhibition “What were you wearing?”  – Survivors of sexual violence respond.

An installation in which the clothes on display symbolically represent those worn during the violence suffered and are accompanied by brief insights that the women, who have undertaken journeys at Cerchi d’Acqua, wanted to share, beginning with their own experiences. The exhibition is inspired by the poem “What I was Wearing”© by Mary Simmerling. The idea was developed in 2013, in an art installation entitled “WHAT WERE YOU WEARING?” by Mary Wyandt-Hiebert, professor at the University of Arkansas, and Jen Brockman, director of the Sexual Assault Prevention Center at the University of Kansas.

It was born out of the need to shake the public’s attention and dispel stereotypes about sexual violence. Too often, in fact, the question “What were you wearing? How were you dressed?” implies a nuance of accusation, as if to say “you had it coming…”, turning the spotlight on those who suffer violence and not on those who act it. Since 2018 the exhibition has become itinerant, with several stops in various Italian cities where it is realized with the involvement of anti-violence centres in the different regions.

Further information on the website www.cerchidacqua.org