Artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh is tackling the important issue of street harassment with her art project entitled, ‘Stop Telling Women To Smile.’ The project features portraits of women accompanied by a clever, biting phrase, such as the projects’ title phrase, in various metropolitan cities.
Tatyana explains to the Huffington Post that she began the project by discussing the various experiences of women she knew personally, which eventually went on to inspire the text underneath the portraits. Many of the lines serve as direct confrontation towards the harassers. This is especially great since a lot of women do not go out of their way to address street harassment, instead choosing to ignore it and go about their day.
For many women, street harassment has become apart of a disturbing daily routine. Though ‘Stop Telling Women to Smile,’ which is currently undergoing a 26-day Kickstarter campaign to raise $15,000, is currently limited to women, it may later expand to include the experiences of men and LGBTQ-identified individuals in the future. Tatyana’s thought-provoking street art also opens the discussion for other issues such as domestic abuse, violence, sexual harassment and rape.
Female-Empowering Street Art
'Stop Telling Women to Smile' Tackles On-Going Street Harassment
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