Visuals can impact us in a way that words often cannot. That is why from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Guyana to China, art has proven to be a powerful medium to protest and address violence against women (VAW). Over the centuries, artists (especially female artists) from Artemisia Gentileshi to Frida Kahlo to Sujata Setia have used their visual art talents to raise awareness about VAW. Their artistic works shine a light on everything from survivor stories to visceral depictions of gender-based violence that might otherwise be relegated to the shadows. Crucially, artists have used their art as tools for occupying space for women’s experiences, sparking conversations about misogyny, sexism and VAW, and shifting social and patriarchal norms around gender discrimination. And, of course, art has an unmatched power to help survivors heal and tell their stories in their own way.
This list celebrates the transformative power of art in addressing VAW through the work of diverse and visionary artists worldwide. From Ana Mendieta’s powerful body art that confronts violence with visceral imagery to Neriman Polat’s installations that provoke dialogue on gender inequality in Türkiye, these artists push boundaries and provoke thought.
Each artist uses a unique creative expression ranging from sculpture and painting to textile and multimedia installations to confront and challenge the pervasive issue of VAW. Their artworks not only raise awareness but also serve as poignant reflections of societal norms and injustices by amplifying marginalised voices and advocating for change.
Written, researched and compiled by Rubina Singh. Additional content by Regina Yau.
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Artist Against VAW 1: Acaye Kerunen – Uganda
Acaye Kerunen is a multidisciplinary artist who works across diverse mediums including textiles, performance and installations. Her art is deeply rooted in exploring women’s experiences and challenging oppressive colonial and patriarchal structures. She prioritises collaborations with women, including those who are “in transition from domestic violence, poverty or internal displacement to women who are struggling to find outlets for their inherent creativity.”
Artist Against VAW 2: Ana Mendieta – Cuba
Ana Mendieta was a Cuban-born artist known for her powerful land art and body art confronting VAW. She would often use her own body to address issues of violence. Some of her most powerful works were made in response to a rape and murder in her college, such as Rape Scene, Rape Performance and Moffitt Building Piece. Mendieta’s bold, visceral artworks powerfully challenged patriarchal violence and oppression. Mendieta died in 1985 aged 36.
Artist Against VAW 3: Billie Zangewa – Malawi
Billie Zangewa is a Malawian artist known for her silk collages depicting scenes of everyday life as a black woman. Her intimate domestic scenes assert the value and dignity of women’s experiences. Her art implicitly confronts the violence and discrimination that women face by affirming their humanity and worth. Calling it “everyday feminism”, Zangewa is “interested in depicting the work done by women that keeps society running smoothly, but which is often overlooked, undervalued, or ignored.”
Artist Against VAW 4: Cerrucha – Mexico
Cerrucha is a contemporary Mexican artist whose work frequently appears in protests. She often adapts her methods to amplify feminist demands and support activist causes against gender-based violence. For example, her project Invisible highlights how sexism is perpetuated in language and Victorias aladas reflects on the “Mexican State’s choices regarding monument protection versus urgent women’s safety and rights concerns”.
Artist Against VAW 5: Faith Ringgold – United States of America
Faith Ringgold was an African American artist known for her narrative quilts that explored issues of race, gender, and civil rights. Several works, including the Slave Rape series and Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima, address gender-based violence and the trauma of slavery. Through bright colours and symbolic imagery, Ringgold depicted the struggles and resilience of African American women through addressing issues of sexual violence, identity and racial oppression. Ringgold died in 2024 aged 93.
Artist Against VAW 6: Ghada Amer – Egypt and France
Ghada Amer, an Egyptian-born artist, is renowned for her embroidered paintings that merge traditional craft with provocative imagery sourced from erotica. Works like My Body My Choice and Women I Know challenge gender stereotypes and the objectification of women by subverting the male gaze through intricate needlework. She believes that “women’s rights can never be taken for granted. Women must continuously mobilize, fight, and never let their arduously acquired rights decline, fade away and vanish.”
Artist Against VAW 7: Jaishri Abichandani – India and the United States of America
Jaishri Abichandani is a multimedia artist whose interdisciplinary practice explores the intersection of feminism, social justice and South Asian identity through sculptures, paintings and community-driven projects. One of her most powerful works emerged from her own experience with gender-based violence. Abichandani staged a public participatory performance to protest outside the venue that was hosting a retrospective of her abuser, a well-known photographer.
Artist Against VAW 8: Magali Trapero – Mexico
Magali Trapero is a multidisciplinary Mexican artist whose work focuses on social justice issues. Using a variety of media including encaustic and oil paint, her art is deeply inspired by the human spirit and natural world, while confronting injustice. One of her most impactful pieces is Breaking Free, which highlights the impact of gender-based violence on women and aims to inspire hope in survivors to keep fighting.
Artist Against VAW 9: Marjane Satrapi – Iran and France
Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian-French graphic novelist and filmmaker known for her autobiographical series of graphic novels, “Persepolis.” Her art powerfully explores themes of identity, gender and political upheaval and accomplishes one of her main goals – to make the reader think, “Oh, they’re actually human beings like us”. Her latest comic book project, Woman, Life, Freedom documents the protests in Iran sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini who was arrested by the morality police for “improper” clothing.
Artist Against VAW 10: Nandipha Mntambo – South Africa
Nandipha Mntambo is known for her sculptural works that fuse the human form with cowhide. Her hybrid creations explore the boundaries between animal and human, femininity and masculinity, challenging traditional gender roles and identity and to “subvert preconceptions regarding representation of the female body”. One of her latest projects showcases powerful sculptures representing the female warriors in the historical Kingdom of Dahomey.
Artist Against VAW 11: Neriman Polat – Türkiye
Neriman Polat is a Turkish artist who believes artistic production is critical to fighting against violence and expressing the inequality and pressures women face in their daily lives. For example, her exhibition Home Watch aptly showcases the fear that women might face in a home where they experience gender-based violence. “My work becomes a way to commemorate women who were murdered, and to resist injustice,” she said. “By triggering deep-seated feelings in people, art can communicate messages more powerfully than words.”
Artist Against VAW 12: Nikki Luna – The Philippines
Nikki Luna is a multidisciplinary artist from the Philippines whose practice spans sculpture, installation, performance and social practice. Her work often explores themes of gender, violence and environmental justice, like her powerful showing “Violence Need Not Be Bloody For it to be Validated As Such”. In addition to her art practice, Luna also holds art therapy workshops for survivors of gender-based violence.
Artist Against VAW 13: Petrina Mathews – Namibia
Petrina Mathews is a visual artist from Namibia who specialises in handmade art like jewellery, textile printing, and other mediums. Some of her work has been focussed on raising awareness about the long-term impact of sexual assault on survivors. For example, one of her large scale pieces, Mending the broken telephone – Fingerprints of blood, “highlights the lack of transparency and communication around the topic of sexual assault and its long term effects.”
Artist Against VAW 14: Phoebe Man – Hong Kong
Phoebe Man is a multimedia artist and independent curator from Hong Kong. She specialises in socially engaged art and explores themes of identity and community, often engaging audiences in her creative process. One of her key works, “Rape Is“, is a redo of Suzanne Lacy’s 1970s performance work of the same name, in which Man invited participants to write their experiences and thoughts about rape on a large sheet of paper. Her work has transitioned from focussing on her own healing to now “motivating more people to work on the subject through artworks and curation”.
Artist Against VAW 15: Shehzil Malik – Pakistan
Shehzil Malik is a Pakistani artist and graphic designer known for her socially-conscious work addressing gender inequality, street harassment and women’s rights. She amplifies feminist narratives and empowers marginalised voices in her home country through vibrant illustrations, textile designs and public art projects. Apart from several other feminist projects, she has created freely accessible posters for the Aurat March (Women’s March) in Pakistan for several years, which shift gender norms by showing “Pakistani women as strong, opinionated and loud”.
Artist Against VAW 16: Silvia Levenson – Italy and Argentina
Silvia Levenson is an Argentinian-born glass artist known for socially-conscious sculptures exploring trauma and survival. Her daughter, Natalia Saurin, collaborates on projects like “The Most Dangerous Place,” raising awareness of gender-based violence in response to the UN Report on the scale of intimate partner violence. Levenson’s art and activism use glass to tell powerful stories and advocate for marginalised communities.
The Top Photo is a Creative Commons image by by Darya Sannikova from Pexels.
Photo Credits
- Acaye Kerunen – From “Acaye Kerunen Joins Pace Gallery After Showing at Venice Biennale’s Award-Winning Ugandan Pavilion” (ARTNews /Ethel Aanyu)
- Ana Mendieta – From Britannica.com
- Billie Zangewa – From Wikimedia Commons (WomenArtistUpdates, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
- Cerrucha – From “The Words ‘Pretty’, ‘Mommy’ or ‘Little One’ are Violent to Me”: Claudia Espinosa Cerrucha” (El Universal /Adriana Hernandez)
- Faith Ringgold – From Faith Ringgold.com
- Ghada Amer – From GhadaAmer.com
- Jaishri Abichandani – From Wikimedia Commons (JVadera, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
- Magali Trapero (artist image unavailable; image is of her artwork, Breaking Free) – From https://www.saveartspace.org/gbv
- Marjane Satrapi – From Wikimedia Commons (Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
- Nandipha Mntambo – From Wikimedia Commons (HdgroupAfrica, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
- Neriman Polat – From E-Flux (Neriman Polat)
- Nikki Luna – From Art World Database (Nikki Luna/Plural Art Mag)
- Petrina Mathews – From Urban Cafe Radio
- Phoebe Man – From Aware Women Artists (Riddick Douglas)
- Shehzil Malik – From Shehzil.com
- Silvia Levenson – From SilviaLevenson.com
