Kaitlyn Hughes | news editor

Over the years, Students Against Sexual Violence at Duquesne University has hosted an annual art show to provide an outlet for students to share their stories through art.

But Friday’s art show looked a little different.

Instead of a room filled with painted canvases, sketches or ceramics, the room was filled with stands displaying poetry — the art of the written word.

Elizabeth Skrinjar, president of the organization, said they purposefully put an emphasis on poetry and verbal artwork.

“It’s called expressions of courage and taking your wounds and putting them into words,” Skrinjar said. “Taking your trauma, your experiences, your struggles and using words to express them and also connect with other people.”

Most of the work submitted was anonymous, but the wide range of poetry dove into people’s journeys with healing from trauma, their experiences battling anxiety and depression, their memories of events of assault and how they found joy through the pain.

Skrinjar said that hosting an art show, with the added promise of anonymity, is an easy way for any student to get involved.

“People don’t always feel comfortable coming to events such as this one because of the nature of it. It’s very vulnerable for some people,” she said. “It’s a way for people to add their experience and express themselves without having to physically be present. I feel that is a way to connect people on a deeper level.”

Faith Barrett, associate professor of English at Duquesne, said that anonymous writing or pseudonymous writing has been popular since the 18th and 19th century.

“I think anonymous work gives people the freedom to feel like they can write frankly about their own experiences without having to worry about partners, family members, ex partners being upset, hurt, offended, attaching themselves,” she said.

Beyond the art work, the overall goal of the show was to raise awareness around sexual assault.

More than 40% of students experienced at least one sexually harassing behavior in college, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, a nonprofit that provides leadership in preventing and responding to sexual violence.

“Regardless whether one person shows up or 100 people show up, we touch somebody with such an important and special cause,” Skrinjar said.

Soft music filled the gallery and teal ribbons, the color of support for survivors of sexual violence, were scattered across tables. The organization hosts the art show during April every year, which is National Sexual Assault Awareness month, to show their support for survivors.

Cassidy Klock, recruitment coordinator for the organization, said she hopes the people who submitted work were able to turn their pain into something that empowers them. In conjunction with expression, Klock said the event was also a way to educate the Duquesne community on sexual violence.

“Helping people in all different aspects is our goal,” she said.

Sarah Tower, a junior nursing major, was one of few people who submitted paintings and photography.

These creative mediums have been hobbies of hers since high school, but it was important for her to submit her pieces to support the message Students Against Sexual Violence spreads.

“They’re not silent on campus, which is important because it is not something you should be silent about,” Tower said.

Barrett said poetry is a form of writing that helps people grapple with difficult experiences, but it should not be confused as a replacement for professional counseling.

“In conversation with counseling, it can be so helpful to try to take your experience and move it from the sort of wordless tumult of emotions in your mind and in your body. To put it down on the page can be super helpful for trying to move forward through to … having a more nuanced understanding of one’s own experience,” Barrett said.

This type of event builds community, Barrett said.

“You see writers modeling their own coming to consciousness about their experience, but then also readers looking at the poems and reflecting on their own experiences. Then you can feel a sense of ‘ah there’s a community of people who unfortunately have had these experiences,” she said. “But that community is a community I can potentially connect with as a reader, as a writer, as an artist.”

Going along with the theme of written work, Ali Bowman from Duquesne’s Classical Society to show how there have been mention of sexual violence throughout classical literature.

“This has gone on way before it was spoken about,” Bowman said.

Kaitlyn Hughes can be reached at hughesk10@duq.edu