April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and the University is doing its part to recognize the cause. The Women’s Resource Center is holding a month-long exhibit featuring wooden hearts decorated by students, faculty and community members who have been directly or indirectly affected by violence.

“I think all of our Sexual Assault Awareness Month events are important to feature on campus, but this event invites the entire community out to see how it affects everyone, even those they get help from or talk to on a day-to-day basis,” said Maria Victoria Perez-Fisher, coordinator of Sexual Assault Awareness Month at the Women’s Resource Center. “It’s the immediate UA community, and people can connect more to that than a national or global statistic.”

The “Healing the Wounded Heart” exhibit opened with a reception Monday afternoon and will be on display for the entire month of April in the Crossroads Lounge of the Ferguson Center. The hearts were distributed for decoration last month and, after being displayed at the Kentuck Art Gallery last Thursday, will now be available for students to view.

Each heart represents a different experience of abuse and is decorated to reflect the influence of violence and the strength gained through healing. The artwork is to be seen as therapeutic for those who have been affected by violence, and the pieces are accompanied by the stories of each artist.

“We want the students to read the personal stories that are next to each heart and see how art can be healing, and also how it can tell a story,” Perez-Fisher said. “Not everything you see will you be able to tell what they are trying to tell you, but the fact that the students can read what they are is important. Art is personal and so are the people who are willing to do these hearts each year.”

The idea for the event started nine years ago when Elle Shaaban-Magaña, now the director of the Women’s Resource Center, saw an exhibit with a similar theme in Texas and asked to borrow their idea. It has been put on every year since and has collected more than one hundred hearts from survivors of violence and advocates against it.

Other events the Women’s Resource Center will host for Sexual Assault Awareness Month are the presentation of Reanae McNeal’s one-woman show “Don’t Speak My Mother’s Name in Vain” at 6 p.m. on April 18 in the Ferguson Center Ballroom, and its annual Take Back the Night rally at 6 p.m. on April 19 in the Ferguson Plaza. All events are free and more information is available on wrc.ua.edu.

“It’s sad to think that so many people are affected by violence and we shouldn’t recognize the fight against it just during the month of April,” said Currey Weaver, a junior majoring in consumer sciences. “I hope these events show students that it is ongoing and we should all be willing to support those who are overcoming it.”