November 17, 2024

@FemmeFierceUK & @planuk – The Supportive Side to Street Art

Femme Fierce: Reloaded are a collection of talented all female street artists who enliven our city. From 6th – 8th March 2015 they are joining forces with Plan UK to raise awareness and end violence against girls and women. The culmination point will be on 8th March, International Women’s Day, when 150 artists come together to enrich the Leake Street tunnel and the Vault.

Suzko

Street artist Suzko

Femme Fierce are supporting Plan UK’s ‘Because I’m a Girl’ campaign to end the type of violence against girls which has been prominent in the media recently. Such violence includes female genital mutilation and child marriage. Not only are they fighting to stop these atrocities, but they want to empower and educate these young people so the girls can achieve their full potential.

This collective of strong women will incorporate exceptional global artists. Plan UK will paint the Leake Street tunnel in their colour: blue, which will then become a canvas for the creative minds to interpret the theme and inspire. On the week leading up to International Women’s Day, Plan UK also painted the Shoreditch Art Wall and four of the Femme Fierce artists kicked this event off with their interpretive visions. By joining forces, Femme Fierce, Plan UK and International Women’s Day will raise awareness of issues from discrimination in the workplace to FGM.

Saturday 7th has events at the Vault, inside Leake Street tunnel. They are providing a series of interactive and informative workshops, talks and events including: smartphone art, marketing, the history of Leake Street plus much more. Famous names include: Noir, Joe Epstein and Blek le Rat. The Leake Street tunnel is open to the public from 10 am – 6 pm on International Women’s day the 8th March, so go and experience the ever changing urban landscape of London and support the artists challenging perceptions and promoting equality.

Following on from this, there’s no rest for these ladies as you can hunt them down (metaphorically) at RISE Gallery in Croydon. Not newcomers to Croydon, the graffiti girls caused a splash previously when they were invited by RISE to liven up the shopping centre on the 15th Feb. However, according to thecroydoncitizen.com, ‘Less than ten days after their initial painting, more than thirty of the Femme Fierce murals were defaced by taggers.’ Can graffiti really be defaced? They continue, ‘The taggers claimed not to have known the area was curated, and have agreed not to treat the space as a ‘free-for-all.’ The work will continue and to catch up with some contemporary street art then take a wander down to St George’s Walk.

For further information on all of these events check out:

vaultfestival.com

plan-uk.org

Rise-gallery.co.uk

By Helen Shewry

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