Art Installation spotlights the "epidemic" of violence against indigenous women and girls

More than four in five Native American women have experienced violence in their lifetime, according to the U.S. National Institute of Justice. In 2016, the U.S. National Crime Information Center reported 5,712 cases of missing native women. Similarly high rates are seen in Canada with a 2014 national report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police estimating 1,181 indigenous women disappeared or were murdered since 1980.

The situation is a "silent crisis", U.S. Representative Deb Haaland, one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress, said last week during congressional testimony.

An art installation launched this month at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. spotlights the "epidemic" of violence against indigenous women and girls across the continent. Dozens of empty red dresses sway in the wind at the foot of Capitol Hill, reminding passersby of the thousands of native women recorded murdered or missing in the United States and Canada in recent decades.  

Learn more about the Red Dress Project