Shirts hang in the Memorial Union Ballroom as part of the North Dakota Clothesline Project. Photo by Jennifer Friese/The Dakota Student.

Though they were varied in color and told different stories, each T-shirt hanging in the UND Memorial Union Ballroom this week advocated the same message: End violence.

The UND Women’s Center hosted the 19th annual display of the North Dakota Clothesline Project from Oct. 13 to 17 in the UND Memorial Ballroom.

The Clothesline Project was created to increase awareness of violence against women and children in North Dakota. It bears witness to the victims of domestic and sexual violence, helps to educate the community and help those victims and their families heal.

The project is a visual display featuring decorated T-shirts that depict the stories told by survivors of violence, their family members and  their friends. The shirts are color-coded to represent the particular woman or child’s experience with violence.

White is for women who have died because of violence, yellow or beige is for women who have been battered or assaulted, pink or orange is for women who have been sexually assaulted, blue or green is for survivors of incest or child sexual abuse, purple or lavender is for women attacked because of their sexual orientation and red is for children who have witnessed or been the target for violence in their homes.

This year, the Women’s Center also incorporated shawls that could be decorated along with the T-shirts.

“Shawls are held in high esteem by Native women,” assistant at the UND Women’s Center Jackie Hoffarth said. “We feel giving the option of decorating a shawl in place of a T-shirt helps bring awareness to violence against Native women and moves us towards being more culturally inclusive.”

The Clothesline Project also took steps towards going green this year. They incorporated the use of a QR Code that could be scanned by a smartphone to receive more information about violence. This change was based on student and community feedback.

The “Take Back the Night Rally” is also a part of The North Dakota Clothesline Project. It was held in the memorial union ballroom Oct. 16. Mayor of Thompson, N.D. Karyn Hippen was the guest speaker. The event ended with a march that took place on University Avenue. The march represented taking a unified stance against violence. It served to bring the community together to speak out and work towards ending violence.

Katie Haines is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected].