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PHOTOS: Decorated tees decrying violence against women hang in Campbell River’s Spirit Square

Heartrending display has messages of sorrow and ones of hope

More than 150 thoughtfully-decorated T-shirts hanging in Campbell River’s Spirit Square blew in the wind on Thursday, April 14.

The clothesline display was put on to recognize Prevention of Violence Against Women Week.

Organizer Emily Smith-Marsh, who is a safe home coordinator and child activity worker with Campbell River North Island Transition Society, said it works well as a visual statistic to raise awareness of the troublesome issue in the community.

“I think it’s really impactful to come down and see all the messages,” she said.

“Some of them are quite hard to read, so I do recommend if you do come to take in the display to take some time for self-care today, because it can be triggering and upsetting.

“But there are also some messages of hope and empowerment, and I think that’s important as well.”

READ MORE: Powerful display marks Prevention of Violence Against Women Week

READ MORE: Campbell River Transition Society hosts moving vigil to recognize gender-based violence

Passers-by who wanted to add to the display were encouraged to grab a T-shirt and put their design or slogan on it.

“I really like the way it turned out with all the colours together, and all the messages,” Smith-Marsh said.

Different colour shirts were meant to represent different forms of violence.

Blue and red T-shirts represent sexual abuse, yellow or beige T-shirts represent abuse by a partner, white T-shirts represent murder, purple T-shirts represent assault because of sexual orientation and green T-shirts represent children who have been affected by violence.

The shirts were on hung at Spirit Square until 4 p.m. on Thursday, but there will be more at the Transition Society store, and at Rose Harbour which will be kept up all week.



ronan.odoherty@campbellrivermirror.com

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