What Were They Wearing?

Vanessa Ervin is a feminist, activist, and multidisciplinary artist that passionately promotes change through conversation, art, and education. Ervin’s work is heavily research and content-based, and addresses a variety of feminist topics. As a multidisciplinary artist, Ervin has interests in mediums such as drawing, sculpture, multimedia, photography, fabric work, painting, digital art, and graphic design. Her pieces often include detailed penmanship, tactile sculptures, interactive pieces, and realism styles. Overall, her goal is to create open dialogues and to foster critical thinking through her art pieces in order to change the current status quo. Ervin is a third-year Women’s Studies Master’s student at the University of Ottawa; her Major Research Paper focuses on the Importance of Creative Methodologies in Settler Colonial Education Systems. She attended Lakehead University for her undergraduate degree, majoring in an Honours Bachelor’s of Fine Arts and a minor in Women’s Studies.

What were they wearing? is a piece that highlights the importance of consent and tackles sexual assault myths. Too often, the clothing that a victim is wearing is wrongly blamed for causing or inviting the assault – for example, people asking ‘what were they wearing?’ in response to sexual assault. With an overwhelming amount of victim-blaming, slut-shaming, scapegoating, gaslighting, and more occurring around sexual assault, I felt an undeniable call to make a ‘consent clothing line/brand.’ This clothing line shows the reality of what we have come to – the need for clothing that clearly states ‘I do not consent’ in order to feel safe, to not be blamed, and for survivors to take back their personal autonomy. My clothing is meant to aggressively and defiantly take away the myths used by society to excuse sexual assault; in order to force them to see the reality of just how problematic all sexual assault myths are, and that it is not the survivor’s fault. For this art piece, I announced a ‘call for donations', and asked the community for articles of clothing to contribute to this art initiative. Once I received all the donations, I selected a variety of clothing that ranged in size, colour, style, fabric, and that came from a variety of backgrounds. The clothing also included a range of articles - from pants, underwear, t-shirts, long sleeves, dress shirts, bras, dresses, and tank tops. Additionally, all of the clothing varies from more ‘provocative’ to ‘conservative’ clothing. I

What were they wearing? Vanessa Ervin Embroidered clothing on a clothing line 2019

purposely selected a diverse range of clothing in order to convey that consent is always mandatory, regardless of the kind of clothing being worn. Once I had my selection of clothing articles, I embroidered and designed different ways of saying ‘no’ onto the clothing; such as “I do not consent”, “Still No”, “No means No”, or “Non-Consenting.” Once the clothing designs were completed, I created two old-fashioned clothing lines to hang my pieces on. I used clothing lines to display my art as they reference the act of ‘putting your dirty laundry out to dry’, and because clothing lines have been banned in communities as they were deemed to ‘decrease the aesthetic’ of the neighbourhood. Similar to clothing lines and dirty laundry, sexual assault is often a topic that is – wrongly - hidden away and considered social taboo. However, my work aims to actively defy this notion, by putting the topic of sexual assault out in the open for all to see – to talk about, to ask questions about, and to become educated on. This piece has been on display at several art galleries and has resulted in meaningful discourse , both in-person and online. Its purpose is to bring up critical questions, conversations, educational opportunities, and to act as a symbol of solidarity in the fight against sexual assault myths. My art piece’s goal is to also allow survivors of sexual assault to feel a sense of community and resistance – that they are not alone, and that it is not, and was never, their fault.