As I prepare to host a new installation of What Were You Wearing? at the 2026 Conference on Crimes Against Women, I am adding my own storyboard to the exhibit for the first time.
My story has always been deeply embedded in these exhibits; my poem, “What I Was Wearing,” is part of their origin story—the very DNA of this survivor-led project. In 2005, long before the first physical exhibit was hosted in 2014, photographer Patsy Evans and I had planned an art installation built around the question the poem exposes, where other survivors could contribute their stories.
As part of my ongoing social justice work, I have sought to foreground the voices of other survivors, and those who did not live to share their stories. Next week in Dallas, I will place my storyboard alongside theirs. Because justice is inseparable from voice. And silencing can only be interrupted when we bring the record into public view.
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I felt the trauma in my own bones, reading your poem. Thank you for your brave work to support everyone in reclaiming their personal sovereignty—starting with yourself.