The Bandana Project: Art Activism to Raise Awareness of Sexual Violence Against Farmworker Women

Last Tuesday, Roxana Pineda, Migrant Clinicians Network’s Ventanilla de Salud Coordinator, set out crisp white bandanas and an assortment of fabric markers, around a long table. Here at the Mexican Consulate in Austin, where the Ventanilla de Salud links visitors with health services and resources, Pineda spends lots of time organizing health fairs that feature community partners giving free vaccines, setting up information tables on diabetes and hypertension, or handing out resources and flyers.

But today’s event was different. As part of the Bandana Project/El Projecto de Bandanas, Pineda sought to raise awareness about the widespread and often extreme violence that women face just to work in the fields, by decorating white bandanas. Farmworker women often use extra layers of clothing and bandanas to cover up their bodies and faces to mask their gender, in hopes of safety from sexual violence. She approached those waiting for services at the Consulate to encourage participation.

“When I started explaining why women need to wear bandanas in the fields, some people looked like they were going to start crying,” she recalled. Even those who didn’t participate in the project, she said, were shocked and saddened by the statistics: 90 percent of farmworker women surveyed in one California study thought sexual harassment was a major workplace problem.

“Two young women were writing messages on their bandanas like ‘No Means No’ and “No Touching,’” Pineda said. A couple worked on one together, with the wife drawing and the husband adding to her drawings.

Pineda’s project was part of dozens of bandana projects across the US. The Bandana Project, supported by Justice for Migrant Women, began in 2007. The art activism provides a visible demonstration of support for farmworker women and a commitment to eradicating sexual violence, according to Justice for Migrant Women. She will have the bandanas at the Ventanilla de Salud for the remainder of the April, which is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

“A lot of people didn’t know anything about this topic,” Pineda said. “It was great to see how people engaged with it.”