For artists exploring themes of violence towards humans and animals, there is a fine line between thoughtfully engaging and needlessly shocking the viewer; being sensationally explicit can turn people away while being tacit or innocuous may fail to make an impact.
Grammys 2015: Abuse survivor Brooke Axtell talks Katy Perry, advocacy
by Nardine Saad
Domestic abuse survivor and advocate Brooke Axtell captivated audiences watching the Grammy Awards on Sunday with a stirring spoken-word piece before Katy Perry's performance of her ballad "By the Grace of God" at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
27Million aims to combat human sex trafficking and modern day slavery. They state that they are "a group of passionate individuals that are on a mission to network and resource grassroots organizations that are the frontlines of rescuing, rehabilitating, and restoring human trafficking victims."
On June 17, 1911, a week before the coronation of King George V, women from diverse backgrounds united in costume and with installations over a shared political view - that of rallying the right for women to vote. Known as the Women's Coronation March, women thronged the streets between Blackfriars Bridge and Albert hall in a five-linked chain, dressed for the most part in white.
The Guerrilla Girls tactic was well thought-out and was effective in creating a spectacle to draw attention to the issue at hand, which is the lack of female representation in the museum. Where I think the campaign has some drawbacks is in the actual message on the billboard. The rhetorical and ironic message is subtle and really only reaches those who are privy to the art world and/ or the museum.
"The thing about this is that sculptures like these in art history were for the male gaze. Photoshop a phone to it and suddenly she’s seen as vain and conceited. That’s why I’m 100% for selfie culture because apparently men can gawk at women but when we realize how beautiful we are we’re suddenly full of ourselves…" —Kiyun Kim
Students have accused university management of having a lack of concern about the issue.
CAPE TOWN – University of Cape Town (UCT) students have stripped to their underwear to highlight their concerns over rape culture on campus.
Dozens of students have gathered outside the Bremner Building to discuss sexual assault and sexual harassment at the university.
On February 1st, 2014, approximately 600 participants, convened in 31 locations in six countries to edit Wikipedia articles on women and the arts. During this day, at least 101 new articles were created, and at least 90 articles improved.
For more than 30 years, the Guerrilla Girls have travelled the world exposing sexism and inequality in the art industry, and this week they proved Hong Kong was no exception.
Three members of the anonymous feminist collective—calling themselves Frida Kahlo, Käthe Kollwitz and Zubeida Agha—spoke at the University of Hong Kong on Monday, dressed in their signature black outfits and gorilla masks.
Growing up in extreme poverty under the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, Mam was sold into sexual slavery when she was 12, eventually ending up in a Phnom Penh brothel where she endured unimaginable daily torture and rape. After being made to watch as another girl, her best friend, was murdered, Mam escaped and was helped out of Cambodia by a French aid worker.
MEXICO CITY — Tens of thousands of women vanished from streets, offices and classrooms across Mexico on Monday, part of a nationwide strike to protest the violence they suffer and to demand government action against it.
The women’s absence from public spaces was intended to be a reminder that every day, 10 women in Mexico are killed — and so disappear forever, organizers said.
My skin is black,” the first woman’s story begins, “my arms are long.” And, to a slow and steady beat, “my hair is woolly, my back is strong.” Singing in a club in Holland, in 1965, Nina Simone introduced a song she had written about what she called “four Negro women” to a young, homogeneously white, and transfixed crowd.
Female students from the Guangdong University of Technology in Guangzhou called for equal job opportunities and for people to "pay attention to the value of women" while protesting on the school's campus, shirtless and covered in body paint.
The photos, taken by ogling passersby, have been circulating on Weibo and naturally netizens stand divided on whether the semi-naked protests were empowering or counterproductive...
Brick x Brick is a public art performance that builds human “walls” against misogyny. It is organized by the Public Displays of Affection, a collective of artists, designers, educators and organizers that engages in nonviolent direct art action. During the wall performances, participants wear brick-patterned jumpsuits adorned with colorful brick patches bearing statements of misogynistic violence made by US President Donald Trump.
Photography has long been associated with acts of resistance. It is used to document action, share ideas, inspire change, tell stories, gather evidence and fight against injustice.
This group exhibition at the SLG, organised in collaboration with the V&A, brings together works by international artists and collectives who are using the camera to challenge and move beyond traditional protest photography.
Protests have been held in cities on either side of the Irish border after two Ireland rugby internationals were acquitted of rape.
Up to 1,000 people took part in a demonstration in Belfast on Thursday after a jury’s unanimous verdicts on Wednesday in the case of Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding, who were accused of raping a woman in June 2016.
Yumi Ishikawa, a Japanese actress, freelance writer, and part-time funeral parlor worker, started the #KuToo Movement because she feels it’s unfair she has to wear heels at work. She also feels that being required to wear heels is rooted in a cultural problem, one much deeper than physical discomfort.
A feminist group in France has been transforming the streets of Paris after noting that just 2.6 per cent are named after notable women.
Tourists on the Ile de la Cité got a surprise when they found that almost all of the street signs in central Paris had been changed overnight.
SERIE A players are once again doing their bit to raise awareness for a campaign against violence to women.
They have teamed up with Italian organisation WeWorld Onlus, and will promote the cause at all ten Serie A matches this weekend.
Players will have red stripes on their cheeks as they play their matches.
The striking look seeks to promote WeWorldOnlus' Red Card to Violence campaign.
publicly displayed posters feature the portraits of women, along with a quote relaying their experiences with street harassment. Fazlalizadeh hopes the captions speak directly to offenders by placing the posters outside in public spaces where harassment happens.
Last month, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, dozens of women gathered outside the supreme court building in Santiago, Chile—a country now beset by popular uprisings against inequality—for a feminist flash mob.
As the female gaze comes to the fore, artists are beginning to examine and explore the possibilities of what exists, what it is to be a woman looking at the world outside of her self. For American artist Dani Lessnau, the gaze opened the door into uncharted realms in search of the things that a camera can capture that the human eye might otherwise miss.