WEMEN . 2018 . FRANCE
IN A NUTSHELL
Gender equality has a universally recognized benefit for people. However, our visual references (media, advertisements, movies etc.) are still full of sexist stereotypes and vividly illustrate the depth of stereotypes permeating our contemporary civilization. Yet everyone has much to gain equality of all people genders and sexes.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Our workshop in Brivezac France April 30 - May 14 2018 invited youth workers and artists to lend their support to involve youth in gender equality. We had chosen to address this topic through the use of creative digital tools because images are a powerful tool for reflection and call to action and digital media has the widest impact reach. We intended to bring everyone's messages for gender equity and equality through comics that we also put in a joint comic book. WeMen brought together 24 youth workers, visual artists, gender activists and theoreticians from different parts of Europe: France, Poland, Bulgaria, Portugal, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom and Turkey.
The workshop was concluded with a "WeMen Exhibition" local exhibition of comic strips to engage local people in favour of gender equality. You can see the photos here.
FURTHER READ
I am a feminist, but…
Feminism is a contentious and emotive term that many people — men and women — don’t want to be associated with. That’s just because this idea and its understanding have been limited by stereotypes. The definition of feminism is simple and straightforward. To Merriam-Webster, feminism is, “The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.” Simple. Easy. In a simpler way it aims at achieving equality between all humans with no regard for their genitals. Feminism is about freedom of choice and the possibility to express yourself freely.
COMICS & FEMINISM ACTIVITIES
GET OUR BOOKLET
What activities we did do to explore gender challenges and address them via comics! Thanks to our facilitators Isabel Couchoud and Karolina Ufa. With additional workshops introduced by Danny Moore and Kristina Hristova.
What some of the artivists are saying about their WeMen experience:
“An amazing time journey of self and collective discovery acknowledging the knowledge and bridging cultures full of super interesting people.”
— Coline Laboulais
"I had never tried making comics before am thankful to Isabel and the whole team. and never been in that kind of space; our days and nights full of art and activism. At first, I was a little bit scared about how to deal with all this new information but then I easily adapted. I’ll use those techniques and perspectives for my future projects."
— Mehmet Selcuk Bilge
"I think the team did an amazing job with this workshop and I feel I need to congratulate you for this. You could see you were always careful and thoughtful of the wellbeing of participants and you managed the limbo between pleasing participants and going with the plan. I will take specific knowledge about comics but especially I will take inspiration to create and step out of my comfort zone and I will take confidence."
— Joana Maria Neves
"I learnt to enjoy the process and not be so focused on the final product which is something really big for me. I learnt new art techniques and was reminded of how to do things I haven't done since childhood. The workshop provoked me to be more creative more inventive and to just enjoy myself."
— Vesy Deyanova
"Fantastic workshops learnt an enormous amount and it really has given me lots of ideas for workshops in the future. I felt I learnt a lot about myself too."
— Kim Goddard
"I participate in many educational activities and for sure I'm going to implement the whole knowledge from the training. I hope that we will publish even digitally our artworks and we could spread the info via social media etc. I will also add information about it to my portfolio. Also, I want to inform artists, activists etc. about "Nomadways" which is a beautiful idea of connecting people and building amazing space."
— Danny Moore
This training course has been co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme. If you would like to find out more about the programme, please visit European Commission’s webpage here.
