International Womens Day 2024
April 15, 2024TRIGGER WARNING - Violence against women
‘Feel the fear….. and do it anyway’ they say. I don’t know who ‘they’ are but it’s a phrase that seems to crop up in my life with alarming regularity.
Just over a month ago a female photographer I’d never met or even heard of posted in a large all female WhatsApp group of other photographers asking for someone to shoot some BTS (Behind The Scenes) footage of a project she was doing for International Women’s Day. I’ve done a bit of BTS stuff before, it’s very documentary which is right up my street but it is also essentially taking photos of someone taking photos of other people, which in itself sounds a little bit badger bonkers but always ends up being really interesting & I love the whole ‘process behind the final image’ thing. It’s also a lovely way of being involved in some great creative projects without the pressure of being the lead photographer responsible for the entire vision.
So she posted & I said yeah sure - balancing my phone in one hand in an attempt to sustain a half reasonable creative career whilst simultaneously attempting to separate my 5yr old twins with the other hand. Had I read it fully? Not really. I expected my name to get lost in the clamour of other photographers putting their names forward. With my photographer ‘hat’ chucked in the ring, I thought nothing more of it.
Two days later I met Luana (@intimateportraits_bylu) via video and learned that I had become part of a global nude photography project started by Australian photographer Lauren Crooke (@thelaurenporren) using International Womens Day to highlighting the huge numbers of women who are survivors of sexual violence. Women all over the world were stripping off & taking to the streets for group portraits. Standing in raw solidarity with other women all over the world, reclaiming the right to their own bodies and (if they felt comfortable) wearing a cross on their bodies to show the brutal reality of the number of women who have experienced sexual violence.
I took a deep breath. This was a much bigger deal than I expected, but it was also a project I knew I not only wanted to be a part of, but NEEDED to be a part of.
A couple of days after that I met Luana in person. It felt like we had always known each other & we picked up our conversation exactly where our video calls left off. Soon we were scouting locations in central London for a sunrise shoot for an incredibly brave group of women who wanted to participate in this amazing project. Brave, not only to stand up in naked protest but also brave because getting naked at sunrise on beach in Western Australia is one thing, getting naked at sunrise by Tower Bridge on a pavement in London in February is quite another! This shoot was going to be cold & fast.
The day came. The light was beautiful. London was still and silent, as though it was holding it’s breath for the incredible thing these women were about to do.
Every woman in the global project who was a survivor of sexual violence was invited to wear a purple X on their bodies if they felt comfortable doing so. Everyone was milling about so, to be honest, I didn’t really notice who was/wasn’t taping themselves up but when they lined up and I looked at our group the visual statistic was horrifying. Out of our group of 13 women, 9 women wore crosses. This shocking statistic was repeated over and over again in the other images all over the world.
In Perth - Participants: 105 Survivors of sexual assault: 95
Norma G. Cuellar said “If You’re Not Outraged, You’re Not Paying Attention” - and I was outraged. Outraged at the statistics of the number of women who are abused or attacked whilst going about their everyday lives simply for being female.
Whilst I watched Luana work the urge to just stare and take it it all in was sometimes too much and I had to keep reminding myself to take photos!
Luanas background is in body confidence and empowerment focused portraits whereas most of my photography life has been spent on the streets dodging security guards for street photography and guerrilla photo shoots. This turned out to be perfect combination when security did in fact show up right at the end and I needed to produce some fast talking to buy Luana a couple more minutes to finish off. Its quite a skill to be able to chat casually to someone in the manner of ‘What seems to be the problem officer’ whilst ignoring the fact that he is desperately looking over my shoulder as I pretend that there aren’t 13 naked women standing behind me at 6am in the morning!
The whole shoot took a matter of minutes and in that time 13 friends for life were made. Absolutely buzzing (and having avoided being detained by Rent a Cop) we headed to a coffee shop. We felt powerful, brave and proud to be a part of something much bigger than just us. Bigger than just London.
The final image by Luana is stunning and I will always be so proud to have been a part of this. As the other group photos from all over the world started to come in my heart couldn’t believe what I had been a small part of & what we had all done. So many women, complete strangers, standing together in powerful silent unison.
For every man who has ever touched me inappropriately and without permission.
Socially or in the workplace.
Violently or sexually.
In jest or in anger.
Sober or drunk.
For every time I’ve said its fine. I’m ok.
It’s not fine.
It’s not fine for any of us.
We are not ok.
This stops now.
This is the final global video by Lauren Crooke