Elizabeth M. Claffey

Invisible Crime uses the vernacular of crime scene photography to visualize the crime(s) resulting from the 2016 American presidential election. Through fabricated depictions of aftermath, clothing becomes a metaphor for resistance and evidence of invisible, as well as visible abuse.

Clothing represents complex power issues and cultural significance. White clothing has been adopted by many women in the US throughout the 20th and 21st centuries as a symbol of empowerment and autonomy in the face of a government designed to uphold patriarchy. During the 1920’s white clothing became a symbol of the women’s suffrage movement. In 1968, on the night she became the first Black woman elected to congress, Shirley Chilsholm wore white. In 2016, when Hillary Clinton became the first Democratic nominee for president, she wore white, as did many women who cast their votes. On January 4, 2019, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was sworn into to congress wearing a white suit, stating, “I wore all-white today to honor the women who paved the path before me, and for all the women yet to come. From Suffragettes to Shirley Chisholm, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the mothers of the movement.”

While many people are clear that the election of our 45th president was unjust, it is difficult to fully appreciate the impact of such an event when the consequences unfold slowly, over time, in a manner that is made abstract to so many people. Collectively, and in retrospect, it is clear that the rights, autonomy, and bodies of women, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and those with non-heteronormative gender identities are increasingly under attack. In these images, clothing remains as evidence of a body, a gesture, or a physical event—a surviving symbol of struggle indicating with its mere presence the continuation of whatever fight left it mangled or discarded.