Giving Compass' Take:

• Anna Flagg reports that the artist collective FORCE created the Monument Quilt for sexual assault survivors to share their stories and strength. 

• How can funders boost the reach of projects like this one? 

• Learn about attitudes around consent and sexual assault. 

Natalie Martinez was still a teenager when a stranger touched her without her consent.

It took her a year and a half before she was able to add a quilt square to thousands of others sewn by people who have been affected by sexual violence. Written, drawn and stitched into fabric, the squares contain the personal stories of survivors, and together make up the Monument Quilt. On May 31 the result—more than 3,000 pieces that have never before been displayed in their entirety—will spread across the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Martinez, now 21, said she drew strength from the messages of support she read in the other pieces of the quilt, in hopes of helping others struggling with similar experiences. “I wanted to be able to share my own story,” she said. “Maybe it would in a way mean something, provide meaning to somebody else.”

Six years ago, members of the artist collective FORCE began to collect stories from survivors of sexual abuse, and the quilt squares have been piling up in a Baltimore warehouse since. By displaying them in one of the country’s most public spaces, members of FORCE hope to recognize these often unseen and unaddressed experiences. Weighing in at over 50 tons, the quilt will cover an area of the Capitol lawn the size of a football field.

Read the full article about a Monument Quilt by Anna Flagg at The Marshall Project.