Tatyana Fazlalizadeh
Stop Telling Women to Smile is a street art project that addresses gender based street harassment.
The project consists of a series of portraits of women – women who I have sat talked with about their experiences with harassment. The portraits are designed into posters, including text that is inspired by the subject’s experiences. And then I wheat paste.
STWTS started in Brooklyn in the fall of 2012. It is an on-going, travelling series and will gradually include many cities and many women participants.
Street harassment is a serious issue that affects women world wide. This project takes women’s voices, and faces, and puts them in the street – creating a bold presence for women in an environment where they are so often made to feel uncomfortable and unsafe.
“A lot of the work that I do is based around women and gender. Specifically, the way that we are treated. I’m interested in hearing the experiences that women have from various backgrounds. How does where you live, what your race is, what your gender or sexuality is, affect how you are experiencing the world and how people treat you? Sexual assault, sexual violence, street harassment, being black and being a woman, racism and sexism, police brutality; it all fits together.”(quote from interview on okayafrica.com, December 14, 2015.)
Copyright: the artist
www.stoptellingwomentosmile.com