PORTLAND, Maine — Monday’s driving rain only added to the visual impact of a new art exhibit on the University of Southern Maine's Portland campus, aimed at raising awareness of the disproportionate rate of violence against Indigenous women.
The installation features a dozen bright red dresses—all donations from students collected by the gender studies program. The exhibit memorializes Indigenous women and girls who are victims of violence.
According to the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, four out of five native women experience violence in their lifetime, native women face murder rates more than 10 times the national average, and homicide is the third leading cause of death among native girls and women ages 10-24.
History professor Ashley Towle spoke with NEWS CENTER Maine after hanging up some of the dresses.
"It shows, kind of, the power of an empty dress, and is really evocative of the hundreds, if not thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women throughout North America," she said, gazing at the arranged garments for the first time. "So, it’s really power to see. I think it’s haunting."
The exhibit is inspired by the REDress Project, created by Canadian artist Jaime Black to highlight the more than 1,000 missing and murdered Indigenous women from her country.
USM’s Lewiston and Gorham campuses will feature similar exhibits on May fifth. Portland's will be taken down each night and put back up through April 28.