Purple Dresses Hang from Hawaiʻi Capitol to Represent “Missing Women”
A group of young women suspended more than a dozen purple dresses from the fourth floor balcony of the Hawaiʻi State Capitol to represent “missing women” in observance of International Women’s Day.
A sign near the public art piece read, “Each dress represents a real woman. Many are missing women, and are also women missing out on economic security, paid labor, and the refuge of home. Honor invisible stories. #iwd2017”
Some dresses displayed names and messages like “Charlie Scott,” “15% of Filipinas are killed from Domestic Violence related crimes,” “44% of incarcerated women are Native Hawaiian,” and “Thousands of native American women disappear every year.”
Hundreds of passerbys stopped to observe the spectacle. One observers noted that “The dresses blowing in the wind looked like ghosts.”