Reconstruction

They are a quilt woven from scrap fabrics, mismatched pieces sewn together and placed on a wall for the world to see. Some pieces sparkle with life, a brilliant show of glitter and color. The rest of the quilt is dark. An overpowering darkness cloaking the beauty and disguising the sparkle – mutating the quilt into a mundane normality, composed of everyday browns and everyday patterns.

They are the women the quilt is hiding, beautiful women, strong women, women with stories. Society has taken their lives, stolen their stories to manufacture a quilt. Each piece of fabric has been robbed and filled with regret and shame disguised as statistics. The problem has been killed and buried in bloody facts.

One out of every ten rapes is reported. Their stories are drowning. One out of every four women has been sexually assaulted. They are victims of violent acts. 2.4 million women are abused every year. They aren’t alone in this disgraceful phenomenon. Less than twenty percent of sex crimes are reported. They are ashamed. Every two minutes, someone in the United States is sexually assaulted. They aren’t looking for attention. One in four girls will be assaulted by the age of eighteen. They have nowhere to turn. One in six women will experience rape or attempted rape in their lifetime. 

They aren't women. They aren't victims. They are statistics. 

Lucas Samaras 1977

Reconstruction #31