Travis County DA’s Office Honors Sexual Assault Survivors During Community Event Organized to Create the Remembrance Space Art Project
Travis County, TX — Today, Travis County District Attorney José Garza hosted an event for the community to participate in the creation of a Remembrance Space that honors the courage of sexual assault survivors. During the interactive event, sexual assault survivors, advocates, and their allies worked with artist Dianne Sonnenberg to design their own art piece that will be incorporated into a larger mosaic that will be installed at the District Attorney’s offices later this year.
In June 2021, Travis County settled a landmark suit filed by a group of sexual assault survivors against former Travis County District Attorneys Rosemary Lehmberg and Margaret Moore, the Austin Police Department Chiefs Art Acevedo and Brian Manley, the City of Austin, Travis County, and other local government officials. These survivors alleged that there were failures in the handling of sexual assault investigations and prosecutions between 2006 and 2019. Subsequently, in January 2022, the City of Austin settled its lawsuit with the sexual assault survivors.
The county’s settlement committed the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, under the leadership of newly elected District Attorney José Garza, to undertake a series of significant reforms and policy changes to improve the treatment of sexual assault survivors within the criminal justice system.
The reforms included the formation of the Sexual Assault Community Advisory Board. In March 2022, Travis County DA José Garza announced the advisory board members of survivors, community advocates, and experts that provided oversight on the implementation of the settlement within the District Attorney’s office and other victim policies.
To date, the District Attorney has increased the number of sex assault convictions secured by our office, established significant policy changes, increased staffing and resources for victims, and enhanced training for our staff to ensure that victims who interact with the criminal justice system are treated with dignity and respect.
One condition of the settlement agreement was the “creation of a physical space or other visible honor/remembrance for Plaintiffs and other sexual assault survivors within the Travis County District Attorney’s Office.”
In November 2022, Travis County District Attorney José Garza and the Sexual Assault Community Advisory Board announced that they sought to commission an artist or artist team to work with survivors of sexual assault and other community advocates to create an art piece honoring survivors of sexual assault.
The proposals were evaluated by a committee of TCDA staff, sexual assault survivors, and community advocates at the beginning of 2023.
In February 2023, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office and Sexual Assault Community Advisory Board Members selected artist Dianne Sonnenberg to create the Remembrance Space Interactive Art Project and work directly with local survivors to co-create this piece during a live community event.
The final design of the Remembrance Space Project will be approximately 3 ft x 5 ft and will be installed in the Ronald Earle Building (REB) located at 416 West 11th Street, Austin, Texas 78701, later this year.
“Our office is grateful to the survivors who contributed to the Remembrance Space Art Project, which commemorates their struggles and honors their courage,” said Travis County District Attorney José Garza. “We hope this process contributed to their healing experience and that their art piece symbolizes their strength to fight for reforms. The final mosaic installed in our office building will serve as a permanent reminder to everyone in our criminal justice system to pursue justice for all survivors of sexual assault.”
“I am honored to collaborate with Travis County and this group of survivors and allies on this important artwork,” said Remembrance Space Interactive Art Piece Artist Dianne Sonnenberg. “Many hands working together have great power, and this finished work of art will become much more than the sum of its parts. Together, we will create a beautiful and empowering Remembrance piece that I hope will inspire people for years to come.”