Last Sunday, we joined Council Member Laurie A. Cumbo, Hollaback!, and Street Artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh for an event called GIRL POWER: Taking Back our Streets through Art.  None of us were really sure what the event would consist of before we arrived at Fort Greene Park, and when the event started, we were told we would be “wheat pasting.” Wheat-pasting?! (It turns out, wheat-paste is a fancy word for an adhesive made from flour and water).

We separated into groups for a pre-art discussion.  The ages of the attendees varied greatly – there were the adult leaders all the way down to preteen girls – as did their places of origin – there were Brooklyn natives as well as people from all around the country and world.  We discussed incidents of street harassment in our lives – times we were annoyed, times we felt scared, times we wanted to respond but couldn’t.  Then, we were each given a sheet of paper and instructed to “write a message to street harassers.” Challenge accepted.

We got to work!

Mina: “I’m ignoring you for a reason!”

Rachel: “Don’t tell me to smile”
Dani: “You ruined MY day”

Candice: “Catcalling is NOT a compliment” Rebecca: “The Only person who owns my body is ME”

Jessica: “I’m not your Mamacita!”

Even before we had finished, passers-by stopped to ask about the piece.  Most were super supportive!

Rachel: “The only person who owns my body is ME”
Julia: “Harassing only shows your greatest weakness”

The finished product:

Tatyana did the pictures on the bottom. We’re talented…but not THAT talented.

To read press coverage of this wonderful event, click here and here!

The credit for the majority of these photos goes to Julia Dunn.