I feel like this is a feminist issue and is going to be a part of a feminist conversation, and I wanted images of women of color in that conversation - feminism historically has left us out.
Tatyana FazlalizadehI sat down and came up with a caption that I thought would fit well on the poster - something that was short and succinct but got a point across. The latest poster was a direct quote - it was exactly what the woman told me.
Tatyana FazlalizadehI'm a woman of color. I've lived in black neighborhoods all of my life, and most of the time I get hit on in my neighborhood - and mostly by black men. And so I wanted to have my specific experience and my perspective on street harassment out there.
Tatyana FazlalizadehI feel like we're looked at as either completely nonsexual characters or overly sexual characters, and I feel like that affects how we're treated in the public space by men. I believe that women of color experience street harassment in a very hyper way. So I wanted to draw these women in their very normal, regular states and put those images out there in the public for people to see, instead of these other, very sexualized, images of women.
Tatyana FazlalizadehIn Boston, a couple of the women were students and they mentioned how Boston has a huge student population, and that's specific to their experiences of street harassment. They feel like the men were a lot more aggressive, particularly when it comes to social outings and things like that.
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh