All posts tagged: International Women's Day 2023

Graffiti Against Violence: Chihuahua Dispatch I – International Women’s Day /Month

Graffiti Against Violence: Chihuahua Dispatch I – International Women’s Day /Month

As we approach the end of International Women’s Day/Month, we share with you images from the protests that took place in Chihuahua, Mexico marking the day when women all over the world took to the streets to protest their oppressive, dangerous, unjust, and violent conditions in what could be all countries in the world.

International Women’s Day / Month. Chihuahua, Chihuahua. Mexico 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A recent trip to Chihuahua City in Mexico regaled graffiti hunters with many amazing talents in the letter hand-styling department and several very talented local and national muralists scattered around the northern city of about one million inhabitants. It also paraded a long list of accused or convicted rapists, abusers, and those reported to be involved in sex crimes.

International Women’s Day / Month. Chihuahua, Chihuahua. Mexico 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Remaining from a protest commemorating International Women’s Day here two years ago, these hand-sprayed names and accusations still mark the walls of abandoned buildings and even historical monuments. The graffiti appears to be aimed at raising awareness about the high levels of gender-based violence in Mexico and calling attention to the impunity that often allows perpetrators to go unpunished. The women who participated in the protest stated that they wanted to hold the perpetrators accountable for their actions and demand justice for their victims.

International Women’s Day / Month. Chihuahua, Chihuahua. Mexico 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The fact that so many of these were sprayed is shocking to many locals, and the fact that they remain years afterward without being buffed is perhaps more impressive. These street scribes were visually yelling, demanding justice, and warning sex offenders that they would be held accountable for their actions. We took a number of shots while searching for more artful graffiti and street art, but we have to say that the emotional intensity of these writings and simple stencils here in public space was far more impactful in many ways than anything else by those creating for aesthetic purposes.

International Women’s Day / Month. Chihuahua, Chihuahua. Mexico 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
International Women’s Day / Month. Chihuahua, Chihuahua. Mexico 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
International Women’s Day / Month. Chihuahua, Chihuahua. Mexico 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
International Women’s Day / Month. Chihuahua, Chihuahua. Mexico 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
International Women’s Day / Month. Chihuahua, Chihuahua. Mexico 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
International Women’s Day / Month. Chihuahua, Chihuahua. Mexico 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
International Women’s Day / Month. Chihuahua, Chihuahua. Mexico 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Menace Two. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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Wilde Power: Celebrating International Women’s Day

Wilde Power: Celebrating International Women’s Day

New works today to mark International Women’s Day from Iranian artist Aida Wilde, who has placed them on streets in London, Bristol, and Manchester. In black and white with accents of fire, she’s using her bold design sense and collaged text, and forms – including photographs of her mother’s and sister’s arms – to celebrate women’s power and history.

AIDA WILDE X UNCLE FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2023. “The Silence From The Veil” 2023. Detail. (photo courtesy of UNCLE-Olly Studio)

A visual artist, educator, and printmaker, she references the ironic pop fragmentation of slogans in a manner that recalls Jenny Holzer, an early street art social critic and proponent of women’s agency in society. You can see echoes of a street ad approach in Wilde’s previous screen-printed installations and social commentary posters, their replication, and repetition. In this work there is a direct relationship between Wilde’s “Power rarely falls within the right hands” and Holzer’s “Abuse of power comes as no surprise.”

AIDA WILDE X UNCLE FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2023. “The Silence From The Veil” 2023. Detail. (photo courtesy of UNCLE-Olly Studio)

Now based in the UK, Wilde fled Iran with her mother and sisters during her country’s war with Iraq and she is looking at the current theocratic suppression of the women’s popular movement in her home country with horror. It is a repetition of the tale of women’s fight for equality you have seen before, one that echoes through modern history, now playing out in new streets, schools, and educational and religious institutions. Using the balanced formation of the triptych, Wilde says the hands of her mother and sister “are raised in iconic gestures of resistance atop marble pedestals”.

AIDA WILDE X UNCLE FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2023. “The Silence From The Veil” 2023. Detail. (photo courtesy of UNCLE-Olly Studio)

In a statement about the new works on the street, Wilde says, “This is the first time that I have incorporated all of my family in one piece of artwork. This is for ALL the mothers, sisters, brothers, and fathers around the world, who have suffered oppression, violence, injustices, and bloodshed. May our tears and suffering not be in vain. May we be united by peace in the fight for justice.”

AIDA WILDE X UNCLE FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2023. “The Silence From The Veil” 2023. Detail. (photo courtesy of UNCLE-Olly Studio)
AIDA WILDE X UNCLE FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2023. “The Silence From The Veil” 2023. Detail. (photo courtesy of UNCLE)
AIDA WILDE X UNCLE FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2023. “The Silence From The Veil” 2023. Detail. (photo courtesy of UNCLE)
AIDA WILDE X UNCLE FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2023. “The Silence From The Veil” 2023. Detail. (photo courtesy of UNCLE)
AIDA WILDE X UNCLE FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2023. “The Silence From The Veil” 2023. Detail. (photo courtesy of UNCLE)
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