Staff member sews quilts for sexual assault victims
When a student walks into Grasselli Library, she cannot help but be drawn to Ruta Marino’s colorful, unique and handmade quilts that bring attention to victims of sexual assault. Marino felt the need to showcase the hardship and suffering that sexual abuse survivors face.
Marino, the administrative assistant for the psychology department, derived the idea from Project Unbreakable. This is a photography initiative aimed at giving a voice to survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse and promoting healing through art.
In 2011, Grace Brown, a young photography student, heard stories of a friend’s sexual assault and wanted to bring awareness to her struggles. Through a website, Brown asked survivors to recall a quote from their perpetrator, a family member or a law enforcement official when they shared their horrific story. The survivors were asked to write that quote on a piece of paper and take a picture with it. Brown quickly received over 4,000 submissions from around the world. The photography project has turned into a support system for survivors and a mass movement to spread awareness about sexual abuse.
In 2015, the psychology department held a display for the organization “It’s On Us,” a campaign focused on sexual assault awareness and prevention on college campuses. Photographs similar in nature to the Project Unbreakable photos hung on the second floor of the Dolan Science Center around the Muldoon Atrium. While Marino was organizing those photos, she was shocked at the content of the pictures.
“I just couldn’t believe what I was reading,” Marino said. “I felt like I needed to do something more to spread awareness and give voice to these survivors.”
The “It’s On Us” display of powerful photographs urged Marino to take part in promoting sexual assault awareness herself. She decided to make a quilt because quilts are inherently meant to comfort and protect those who use them. “To me, the perfect way to honor these voices is to use this medium that’s so tactile and warm,” she said.
Amanda Cottrell, the program coordinator for the Violence Prevention and Action Center, befriended Marino at a luncheon at the Domestic Violence and Child Advocacy Center in October. Marino shared her idea for quilts with sexual assault quotes and Cottrell loved the idea. Cottrell met with Amy Wainwright, an assistant librarian at Grasselli Library, and she agreed to display the quilts inside the front entrance.
“When you read the quotes, it puts a face with the statistics,” Cottrell said. “They are no longer just numbers.”
Cottrell is grateful for Marino’s willingness to share the quilts because it helps VPAC spread awareness about the prevalence of sexual abuse.
There are various patterns that Marino may use when making a quilt. She chose the house block pattern for her first quilt because many of the cases of abuse took place in the survivor’s own home. Marino made each house on the quilt look different because someone cannot determine what happens inside of a house based on its appearance, expense or the neighborhood in which it stands. No one can grasp what happens behind closed doors. Marino claims that sexual abuse can happen anywhere.
Marino took quotes from the Project Unbreakable website and printed them on the quilt. One quote on this quilt reads, “Honey, what makes you think you have the right to say no to me?” Marino also indicated who said the quote to the survivor, whether it was the perpetrator, a family member or a police officer. Once she finished this quilt, Marino realized that there were many more stories to tell.
She decided to make quilts specifically for people who were abused as children. One quilt is blue and empowers male survivors of sexual abuse; the other quilt is pink to honor female survivors. Marino again included quotes spoken to the survivor from the perpetrator, family members or law enforcement officials. Examples of the quotes included are, “Come on, I am your mother. I would never hurt you.” In this quilt, the tumbling block pattern, which is commonly used for quilts for children, was applied.
Next, Marino found a quilting pattern called silent star. She thought that this pattern fit well with survivors who were forced into silence by threats from their rapists and abusers. This quilt includes quotes such as, “Be a good girl, don’t say anything, OK?” She named this quilt, “Silence is Golden.”
Marino is currently working on a quilt called, “Blame Game,” and it will feature quotes that blamed the victims for their own rape and abuse. She plans on entering this quilt into a show called “Threads of Resistance,”a traveling quilt show that displays quilts with various causes, such as sexual assault awareness. After that quilt is completed, she plans on making a quilt about relationship violence. Each quilt takes several months to complete.
When asked why she took up this cause, Marino gave various reasons. When she first began making these quilts, Marino was appointed to the Sexual Harassment Board at John Carroll. During training, she learned how pervasive sexual assault is in our culture, especially on college campuses. Marino also has two daughters who are college graduates. She wonders if her daughters or their friends were ever sexually assaulted. “It just seemed like the right thing to do,” Marino said. “The quilts are not easy to work on, but I feel good doing it.”
Marino hopes that the quilt display will spread awareness of sexual abuse. “I want it to make people sit up and think and realize that this can’t continue,” she said. “Hopefully people will believe victims more, that’s what I want. Then people won’t be afraid to stand up and report things.”
