what were you wearing? // THANK YOU!
- The Friendship Center
- 16 hours ago
- 6 min read
Photo courtesy of Ginny Emery, used with permission.
Join us in recognizing the many people who helped us bring what were you wearing? to life, and consider sharing your thoughts if you visited the exhibit or attended the reception.
Thanks to EVERYONE who had a hand in bringing what were you wearing? to the Helena community in recognition of April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
The exhibit was our version of a survivor art installation concept that originated at the University of Arkansas in 2013 and has since been adapted by victim/survivor advocacy programs like The Friendship Center across the country. Bringing this exhibit to life was a group effort with help from a lot of places! That was true from the moment one of our partners put this concept on our radar last April.
Almost exactly one year ago to the day of our closing reception, we were at the Myrna in 2025 to present a free community screening of An Army of Women, a documentary about a group of plaintiffs in a groundbreaking federal class action lawsuit that successfully challenged police and prosecutors in Austin, Texas, for their systematic mishandling of rape cases.
The screening was followed by a panel conversation with us and some of our key partners working to address sexual violence in our community. Whitney Brothers, Forensic Nurse Coordinator for St. Peter's Health and now a TFC Board Member, was part of that panel, and she was the one who told us before the screening about an exhibit she saw that included outfits recreated from the stories of sexual assault survivors. So, we have none other than Whitney to thank for planting the seed!
In the intervening 12 months, as what were you wearing? slowly took shape, the list of people to thank just kept growing. We want to recognize them all here.
The Myrna Loy and especially their extraordinary Operations Manager Ramsay Ballew
The Myrna gave us the space to be able to bring this exhibit to our community. That there’s no admission charge for patrons to visit the gallery is an amazing service on its own to our community, and it meant that this could be a totally free public program for the duration of its run. We believe strongly that building collective will and momentum to solve cultural problems like sexual violence requires cultural approaches, and that means partnering across disciplines to amplify stories and experiences like those featured in the exhibit. Thanks to the whole team at the Myrna for making diverse and thought-provoking programming like this possible in our community. And special thanks to Ramsay for being a supportive and knowledgeable resource throughout the lifecycle of this exhibit, going all the way back to last July when we were inquiring about spaces where something like this might be possible.
TFC Board Members Katie Loveland and Alison Fuller, plus their kiddos Eliza and Elena (respectively) and a group of teens Teens thrift hard! As a collective, this group sourced roughly 80% of the clothing items used to recreate the outfits in a single Saturday trip to Goodwill! Additional thanks to Katie for helping with everything from wrangling mannequins around town, to dressing mannequins for exhibit install, to picking up a bedazzling kit and learning in real-time how to bedazzle a shirt that could withstand a month on display!
TFC Board Member Shawn Swift Shawn also sourced some additional key clothing items that were not easy to track down.
Our partners from St. Peter’s Health Besides playing a starring role in the origin story of this exhibit’s conception, Whitney Brothers and her team of forensic nurses are stalwart allies in our work of addressing sexual violence in our community. The level of care available to survivors of sexual assault in our community is something to be proud of, and the trauma-informed forensic services provided by Whitney’s team is a big part of that. Additional thanks to Whitney for tracking down a hospital gown for this exhibit and being part of our panel discussion at the closing reception to make sure people are aware that compassionate forensic care is available to anyone in our community following and an assault, whether or not they choose to make a law enforcement report.
Our partners from Lewis & Clark County Children’s Advocacy Center (LCCCAC) We would not have been able to include stories of child survivors from our own community in what were you wearing? without the help of our partners at the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC). CAC Advocate and Coordinator Julia Luciano-Burns was kind enough to share two stories from child survivors, and also made time to be part of our panel at the reception. Julia and her colleagues at CAC bring critical knowledge and expertise to serving child survivors of sexual violence, and we cannot thank them enough for the essential work they do.
Local businesses who loaned us mannequins! We didn’t know until we started looking for them…but mannequins are not easy to come by in Helena! We have five locally owned businesses to thank for helping us out. fourOsix, Funky Trunk, Bridal Images and Mr. Tux, Sage & Oats Trading Post, and The Sewing Bee all contributed mannequins used for the exhibit. We used every single one of them and had just the right mix to do the recreated outfits justice.
Ginny Emery, owner of Wandering Albatross Photography Ginny volunteered her time and services to photograph the exhibit shortly after it was installed. Photos of each outfit that appear in the online exhibit preview are all courtesy of Ginny and used with permission. We’ve included a full gallery from Ginny’s photo session at the bottom of this post.
Celena Stoos from Valley Bank Besides being an enthusiastic year-over-year supporter who’s always willing to coordinate her colleagues around programs supporting TFC and our clients, Celena eagerly stepped in on a snowy April Thursday morning to help us take down the exhibit and transport some of the mannequins back to their permanent homes. Thank you, Celena, for lightening our load for a quick and painless exhibit deinstall!
Our contributors Nine individuals and the Children’s Advocacy Center contributed descriptions for 13 outfits, making it possible for the majority of the outfits in the exhibit to come from survivors in our own community. Three of the literal outfits on display came directly from people who shared their stories. Some contributors chose to remain anonymous, and many exhibit visitors were inspired by the stories to respond, or share their own story on the exhibit clothesline activity. We’re grateful for every single story we were trusted to present as part of this exhibit. And we cannot overstate our gratitude for those who, in addition to sharing their story, were willing to join us for our panel discussion. To those who spoke—your messages to our community made the closing reception unforgettable. Your wise resilience is the beating heart of everything we do and your willingness to share it with others is a gift we could never thank you enough for.
Finally, thanks to everyone who made a point to visit the exhibit! So many details have to come together for a project like this, but the final and most important step in the lifecycle is to step back and let an audience make meaning out of it. Stories have the power to shift attitudes and change minds if there’s space to tell and hear them. Thanks to everyone who was part of that exchange.
If you didn’t have a chance to visit the exhibit, check out this exhibit preview for all the stories and recreated outfits. Last but not least, enjoy the gallery below with exhibit photos by Ginny Emery, plus photos of each story submitted by exhibit visitors that were added to the clothesline throughout the course of the exhibit.
With the clothesline, we invited exhibit visitors to offer up their own reactions. Some clothesline submissions responded to the stories presented, many others were moved to share their own experience with sexual assault and even describe what they were wearing.
Help us keep the conversation around sexual violence going in our community.
If visited what were you wearing? and/or joined us for the closing reception and have some thoughts to share, get in touch with us.
Also, if you feel inspired to share about your own experience with sexual assault but missed the chance to submit your story for the exhibit, we are leaving the call for stories form for this exhibit open! We will continue reviewing submissions received through the form, as we may be able to include stories on our sexual assault resource page or as part of future Sexual Assault Awareness Month programming.
If you or someone you know is experiencing sexual violence, The Friendship Center can help. Check out our services page to learn about our free, confidential, 24/7 services and visit our sexual assault resource page to explore resources for victims and advocates.
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