Description
In August 2019, thousands of women took to the streets of Mexico City in several massive demonstrations to protest the increasing wave of gender-based violence washing across the country. What characterized the demonstrations was rage, expressed in part through unprecedented damage to public space and property. The media, politicians, and the public at large were quick to condemn the protests and their fallout, and particularly the fact that it was women who were responsible. But, as this paper argues, the protests did not simply lead to destruction. In the months following the protest they also enabled and inspired the creation of novel initiatives and collective projects that have sought to reshape public spaces and to change the experience of women living in the country’s capital. Through an analysis of some of the most iconic artistic initiatives and projects – ranging from the collective photographic project Trinchera in the city’s subways to the auction of historical paintings seized and repainted by feminist collectives that occupied the Human Rights Commission building in Mexico City – I argue that disruptions of the everyday flow of Mexico City and the damage to public spaces served as a controversial but creative form of politicization and political mobilization.
Keywords: Mexico, gender-based violence, protest, art, political mobilization.
Bio: Tania Islas Weinstein is assistant professor in the Political Science Department at McGill University. Her teaching and research are dedicated to analyzing the intersections between art and politics, with a primary geographical focus on Latin America.
