Gender Violence and the Culture That Perpetuates It
Participants
- Violet Ponce,
- Farangiz Yusupova,
- Nia Gordon,
- Gabriela Balderas,
- Alexis Davis,
- Nekita Blue,
- Evonna Gideon,
- Noor Ain,
- Ashley Bullard,
- Nekisha Carter,
- Eona John,
- Carla Lebreton,
- Tricia Browne-Moniquette,
- Karina Olmo,
- Aida Perez,
- Naica Pierre,
- Jamila Prescod,
- Kyla Byam-Ramsay,
- Angie Roman,
- Daizah Staton,
- Jessica Tepenhua Martinez,
- Emily Torres,
- Kinaya Youmans
Community Partners
Neighborhood
Location
1178 East New York AvenueBrooklyn, NY 11212United States
Funders
- Altman Foundation,
- Lambent Foundation,
- Pinkerton Foundation,
- New York State Council on the Arts,
- New York City Department of Cultural Affairs,
- Embrey Family Foundation,
- Irene B. Wolt Lifetime Trust,
- New York City Council,
- STARS Citywide Girls Initiative,
- Charles Lawrence Keith and Clara Miller Foundation,
- EILEEN FISHER,
- New York State Assembly Member Robert Rodriguez,
- Variety The Childrens Charity of New York
As part of the STARS Citywide Girls Initiative, an initiative funded through the New York City Council, a team of young women facilitated the research, design and creation of a mural to raise public awareness and encourage dialogue about gender-based violence. Their mural, Gender Violence and the Culture that Perpetuates It, uses art to express the importance of empowering women in order to stop violence. The central figure is a woman depicted as an ancient statue carrying a pillar. On the top edge of the pillar is the outline of a New York skyline with arches stating: woman, leader, mother, human, sister, partner. The figure is portrayed as a strong powerful carrier, symbolizing the foundation for life and strength. To her left, a woman holds a flag high. The flag billows out into a ribbon that crosses the entire mural. The ribbon has the text We are the root of life on it. On the right side of the mural, a face in profile has colorful rays emerging from its mouth. In the rays the team wrote different examples of gender-based violence such as Objectification, Stereotype, and Slut-Shamed. Flowers and leaf designs are intertwined within the overall mural. The team installed this mural on a basketball court as neighborhood residents were playing. The residents were inspired by the message of the mural: that all women are as strong and powerful as the statue in the mural.
