Two hundred and seventy seven T-shirts hang above students inside the Tivoli Student Union at Auraria. Each one represents a story of survival.
"When you look at the shirts, you'll see things like 'this didn't define me' which is very much from someone who survived violence," Megan Alpert said.
Alpert directs the Phoenix Centers at CU Anschutz and Auraria, serving students, faculty and staff who've survived interpersonal violence.
Each of the nearly 300 shirts hanging at the student union was made by a student, faculty or staff member.
"This is a way people can engage with a difficult topic in a way that doesn't feel scary," Alpert said.
The installation is part of The Clothesline Project, a worldwide movement marking April as Sexual Assault Awareness and Activism month.
Survivors of sexual, physical or racially-motivated violence create the shirts anonymously. The messages they leave on the shirts often let survivors that aren't ready to speak up know they're not alone.
"Anything that helps people understand that they're not alone in their struggle to survive and heal through any kind of violence is really meaningful and impactful," Alpert said.
She designed a shirt six years ago, and decided not to stay anonymous.
"I experienced molestation when I was a child and I had a lot of confusing feelings about what happened, because I was 15," she said. "What I went through may help other people and maybe somebody looks at a shirt and identifies with my shirt or identifies with another, and because of that they're able to reach out - they're able to get help and they're able to know that they're not alone.”
The Auraria campus has participated in The Clothesline Project for nearly a decade. This year is the first time CU Anschutz joined in.
"To me, the over 300 shirts we have as part of this project are over 300 messages of 'you are not alone' and I think that's amazing," she said.
