Welcome to Lives on the Clothesline Project Website
Welcome to Lives on the Clothesline Project Website
LIVES ON THE CLOTHESLINE chronicles the beginning and some of the ongoing work of the Clothesline Project, created in 1990 by Rachel Carey-Harper in collaboration with the Cape Cod Women’s Agenda to bear witness to violence against women. This website about the Project includes excerpts from the book Lives on the Line (mostly written in 1995), as well as pictures, resources such as a bibliography of books, achedemic articles, dissertations that have been written about the Clothesline’s effectiveness. In addition it shares an updated directory of current Projects and could also be a place for people to share things like best practices, resources, and events being planned, such as “It’s a Wrap”, a Christo-style art installation about justice that brings together a wide variety of like-minded initiatives.
Recent Clothesline Project News
Los Angeles Times — APRIL 19, 2023
“Colorful T-shirts hanging on a clothesline in the main quad at Fullerton College looked festive from afar, but as students got closer, they were met with a somber message.”
“In his remarks opening the event’s showing of The Clothesline Project, Mitchell said it’s up to all members of the Total Army Family to do their part to help end sexual violence in our communities.”
Beginnings
This section contains excerpts from the book “Lives on the Line: Birth of the Clothesline Project” which chronicles the early years of this national and international participatory art installation that contains powerful stories of healing, hope, and remembrance to connect the women’s stories about violence.
Resources
This section provides resources such as a bibliography of dissertations that have been written about the Clothesline’s effectiveness, as well as books and articles about the project. It could also be a place for people to share things like best practices, resources, as well as a current list of where Clothesline Projects have been found.
Recent News/Events
This section shares any upcoming or ongoing events being planned that independent local lines want to share. It also will contain planning for a potential large event: “It’s a Wrap,” a Christo-style art installation about justice that brings together a wide variety of likeminded initiatives.
A New Project: The Dragon-Line
Bearing witness to violence against people of color
When paired with a Clothesline Project, specific to women of color
The Dragon Panel Project being displayed specific to violence against women of color, at the Worcester State Clothesline Project display, April 20, 2023
Repairing the World — Tikkun Olam — Relationship
“Tikkun Olam,” also described on the Healing Racism Toolkit and the Journey of Healing pages is the motivation behind all this work, often translated as “repairing the world.” It is the idea that the spiritual essence created the world by forming vessels to hold Divine Light. But the vessels shattered, spreading the shards into our world, including ourselves. Humanity’s great task involves freeing, reuniting and raising these separated sparks back into Divinity and restoring the broken world. Nothing keeps these sparks and each other more separated than racism and gender discrimination. Regardless of the particular creation story, healing is a critical part of the process to repair a broken and fractured world. See the Tools for Justice landing page which links to these websites which are designed for people in North America to understand and begin the healing process. Oppression of any group is part of a chronic spiritual disease born out of a false sense of racial and gender entitlement, arrogance, egotism, and superiority. It prevents the building of healthy community.
Repairing the World — Tikkun Olam — Relationship
“Tikkun Olam,”also described on the Healing Racism Toolkit and the Journey of Healing pages, is the motivation behind all this work, often translated as “repairing the world.” It is the idea that the spiritual essence created the world by forming vessels to hold Divine Light. But the vessels shattered, spreading the shards into our world, including ourselves. Humanity’s great task involves freeing, reuniting and raising these separated sparks back into Divinity and restoring the broken world. Nothing keeps these sparks and each other more separated than racism and gender discrimination. Regardless of the particular creation story, healing is a critical part of the process to repair a broken and fractured world. See the Tools for Justice landing page which links to these websites which are designed for people in North America to understand and begin the healing process. Oppression of any group is part of a chronic spiritual disease born out of a false sense of racial and gender entitlement, arrogance, egotism, and superiority. It prevents the building of healthy community.
We are all part of a whole, called by us the “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security. — Albert Einstein
Please Click this Banner to Visit “The Healing Racism Toolkit”
The Healing Racism Toolkit is a separate component of the Tools for Racial Justice which deals with issues facing People of Color in the US and how white folks can begin the process to travel toward racial healing.
Click here (or the eagle) to visit “The Journey of Healing”
The Journey of Healing is a separate component of the Tools for Racial Justice which highlights issues facing Indigenous People in the US and how white folks can begin the process to travel toward healing past wrongs.