WUNRN
THE WOMAN WHO WAGED AN ARTISTIC WAR
AGAINST HER STREET HARASSERS
| Nov. 27, 2013
For many women, just walking down the street can mean being subject to harassment by men—from subtle comments to overtly hostile remarks. Back in 2012, fed up with such treatment, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh [1], an oil painter by trade, decided to speak out: She produced an illustrated self-portrait with a caption—"Stop Telling Women To Smile"—and plastered copies all around her Brooklyn neighborhood.
Artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh with a self-portrait.
Since then,
Fazlalizadeh has created countless posters, literally taking to the street to
combat sexist harassment. Each piece features a different woman, with a caption
that reflects her own experiences with public harassment. With $35,000 raised
on Kickstarter, Fazlalizadeh has now taken her project [2], named after that first caption, on the road.
In January, after traveling to
Mother Jones: Are your poster captions direct
quotes from the women depicted?
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh: Some are, but most of them are kind
of inspired by my conversations. I sat down and came up with a caption that I
thought would fit well on the poster—something that was short and succinct but
got a point across. The latest poster was a direct quote—it was exactly what
the woman told me.
MJ: These posters have mostly
appeared in Philly and Brooklyn, but you've also taken the project to
TF: Yeah. All of the women have felt like, you walk outside
of your home and it's almost like you're being attacked and there's nowhere to
turn. You're treated as though you're just a piece of meat, and you're there
for consumption by men. I feel like the common thing is men feeling entitled to
treat you how they want to treat you. You never feel as though you have a right
to the space. And so that's the theme behind most of the posters—"I'm not
outside for your entertainment" and "I'm not seeking your
validation." Depending on where you live and how you travel—whether you
drive or bus or whatever—your experiences may be different. But I think that
theme will be the same.
MJ: What kinds of differences have you found, say, between
the women in
TF: When I first landed, I met with a group of women in each
city, and we had a big open conversation. In
MJ: Yes, I've noticed that many of your poster subjects are
women of color. Did you intend that as your focus?
TF: Not necessarily the focus, but it was important to have
these images and voices in this project. I'm a woman of color. I've lived in
black neighborhoods all of my life, and most of the time I get hit on in my
neighborhood—and mostly by black men. And so I wanted to have my specific
experience and my perspective on street harassment out there. I also feel like
this is a feminist issue and is going to be a part of a feminist conversation,
and I wanted images of women of color in that conversation—feminism
historically has left us out. And I'm learning more about how race is a part of
street harassment, and how the differences between what a woman looks like and
who she is affects how she is treated outdoors. So black women, Mexican women,
Indian women, mixed women and their stories have been part of the series, and
as the project continues there will be even more diversity. There'll be queer
women, trans women, all of these women who have different perspectives.
MJ: How do you think her race affects a woman's ability to move
through public spaces?
TF: Well, specifically for black women, our images and our
bodies in the media and in history have been so hypersexualized. I feel like
we're looked at as either completely nonsexual characters or overly sexual
characters, and I feel like that affects how we're treated in the public space
by men. I believe that women of color experience street harassment in a very
hyper way. So I wanted to draw these women in their very normal, regular states
and put those images out there in the public for people to see, instead of
these other, very sexualized, images of women.
MJ: What do you think the street aspect of your project
accomplishes, as opposed to, you know, canvas on gallery walls?
TF: There's a huge difference. I am primarily an oil painter
and a studio painter, so originally I was going to do an oil painting. It just
kind of came to me to do it outside in the street. Men who are offenders of
street harassment and women who experience street harassment can walk by and
feel something about it, because it's out there in the environment where the
harassment actually happens. So it's a lot more powerful than an oil painting
that's stuck in a gallery or under my bed or in my studio where only a couple
of eyes are going to see it, as opposed to it being in an environment where it
could possibly effect a change.
MJ: Part of your Kickstarter campaign was to raise money to
filming your travel and your conversations with women across the county.
TF: Yeah, I think it's very important to get this stuff on
film, not just the behind-the-scenes of the process, but also the interviews
with the women. We're going to try to do some on-the-street filming, getting
people's reactions to the work, and seeing if we can get some street harassment
happening on film so people can see what we're talking about. It's important to
have some type of documentation so people can see what happens when we create
this artwork and why I'm creating it.
MJ: Your Kickstarter did incredibly well, so I'm wondering
what kind of feedback you've received, and whether there's been any backlash
from men?
TF: I've generally gotten negative feedback from men who
don't understand and don't find street harassment to be a serious issue. I've
also gotten a lot of responses from women who are appreciative and thankful for
the project; who relate to it who are passionate about it. It's been kind of
extreme—people either love it or they don't like it at all—and I think that's a
good thing. It's my first art project where there's not a middle ground. I find
it very interesting. But the negative feedback hasn't at all kept me from doing
it, obviously. Because I haven't really gotten any negative feedback that I
feel is really warranted. Most of it has been men who don't really understand,
or they don't like a woman speaking out about her experiences or trying to
stand up for herself and take agency over how she's interacted with outside. I
just don't really pay attention to that. I'll definitely pay attention to
someone who is critiquing the artwork. But as far as someone not thinking
street harassment is a big deal or that I'm being uptight? I don't think that's
a valid critique.