Artivism
“Artistic practices that merge creative expression with political engagement.”
This is how artivism is described in the book Chicana/o Artivism: Judy Baca's Digital Work with Youth of Color (Sandoval & Latorre, 2008). The mixture of art and activism.
In my artistic practice, I have always felt the need to create art with a purpose. A goal of impact on my audience. I see art as an artivistic way to convey something to the audience; it can be simple entertainment but also serve as a medium for a powerful political message.
The book Trust: Building on the Cultural Commons (2024) by Pascal Gielen provides a great handle on how art can be used in activism and in society. One of his assertions is that art which only highlights the flaws of society does not bring about change. He uses activism in art to show a new reality, build toward something, and in that way bring about change. In his view, activist art that merely highlights societal problems fails to bring about change regarding the identified social issue. He therefore argues that the power of activism in art lies in the creation of new, alternative social spaces, a kind of micro-society where a new form of social interaction can be tested. The foundation of this experiment is trust; trust between the artist and the audience to approach the art with an open mind, without any preconceived conclusions. He argues that the focus should instead be on openness and new experiences rather than solely trust.
The philosopher Brian Massumi writes in his work The Politics of Affect (Massumi, n.d.)
about affect in politics in combination with art. He even describes his work as a form of activist philosophy. His idea is that art not only provides information but also creates feelings and experiences. That emotional experience can make people think or act differently.
Massumi talks about new realities created by art. He challenges the idea that art should be overly direct to achieve its message. He recommends the idea that art should be used experimental and open to interpretation. For Massumi, activism in art does not have to take the form of a protest to be considered activism. He views activism in art as a means of shifting perspectives and focuses more on the viewer’s emotional response.
“The capacity to affect and to be affected.” (Massumi, n.d.)
This sentence means, then, that activist art should focus on evoking emotions and provoking reactions, thereby ensuring that an activist artwork can have an impact on people. To bring this idea full circle, the artist must also be willing to be influenced by the audience; that is the “trust” Pascal Gielen referred to in his book.
After exploring how art can become a form of activism, I was able to apply this to the development of my own project. The issue of women’s safety is one that has received a great deal of attention in recent years, and for good reason.
In 2025, new light was shed on the “We Claim the Night” movement (We Claim the Night, n.d.), in which people spoke out massively against the structural insecurity women face on a daily basis. This organization sparked a nationwide movement that mobilized millions of people. Large protests were held in cities across the country, and I participated in one in Groningen.
With this national attention and my personal connection to the subject, I wanted to use women’s safety issues as the theme for an activist project.
What was important for me to keep in mind was to create an activist project, not one that merely represented the problem of women’s safety. As Pascal Gielen’s book *Trust: Building on the Cultural Commons* (2024) also explains, the goal is to spur change. Gielen describes this process in art as the creation of a new micro-society; a work of art in which a new form of interaction can be tested.
I have been able to incorporate this perspective into my own belief that the issue of women’s safety is often viewed as a women’s issue that women protest against. Since we live in a world where women’s safety is not always a given, I would very much like to do my best to raise awareness of this issue as much as possible and work toward change.
In my own social circles, I began asking men about the topic of women’s safety, using the “We Claim the Night” protests as a starting point. From my conversations, I concluded that most men in my circle were well-informed about the protests. I found that there was a significant difference in the experience of safety between men and women, but that men didn’t know much about women’s everyday experiences with insecurity.
To engage men in this topic, I wanted to use my findings to create a project in which I showcase women’s everyday experiences with insecurity and, through interviews, invite men to respond to them. By having men respond, I aim to demonstrate through my project that men must be included in this discussion to foster greater understanding and recognition.
Existing creative community
The issue of women’s safety has been a focus of protests for many decades, and with the renewed widespread public attention on this topic in 2025, I’ve joined a large community dedicated to addressing it. One example is the 2026women movement (2026WOMEN, 2026), an artivism group dedicated to raising awareness about violence and injustice against women and gender minorities worldwide through art. They create large-scale projects in which they share women’s experiences through spoken word, dance, and music, among other mediums. Their mission is to amplify the voices of women and gender minorities, and they therefore focus on workshops designed for their target audience. The Project4Equality community is a group based in The Hague that promotes feminism through projects and workshops on gender-based violence and women’s activism. (Project4Equality, n.d.). These are a few examples of larger communities dedicated to supporting women and gender minorities.
The specific artistic projects that caught my attention in relation to this theme are as follows. First a song by Lady Gaga, because it reached millions of viewers and serves as an inspiration to me as a musician. Lady Gaga drew attention to sexual violence on university campuses with the song "Till It Happens to You" (LadyGagaVEVO, 2015). Her impact was to bring this topic to millions of listeners, even earning an Oscar nomination. In an interview with Galuppo (2016), the singer revealed that she herself had been raped and saw it as her own fault. She said, "Because of the way that I dress, and the way that I’m provocative as a person, I thought that I had brought it on myself in some way, that it was my fault." Blaming oneself for being sexually abused is something that is often seen in our society, as I have previously researched for this thesis. Lady Gaga is, therefore, an inspiring example of sharing her activist beliefs in an artistic way. With millions of viewers reached and a strong message about victim blaming and awareness. This song and the impact it made created my interest in researching society and how it influences women’s safety. Which factors such as entitlement, objectification and victim-blaming. These factors may have influenced Lady Gaga on why she sought fault with herself.
Another inspiring example, in my opinion, is the song “Ice Cream Man” by singer RAYE (RayeVEVO, 2023). This British artist wrote a song about how a producer invited her to a studio session and raped her there. In this song, RAYE describes how difficult it was to speak out because going through that process would cause even more pain. I saw this song performed live at her concert, where she explained that she saw the importance of sharing her pain in order to give voice to stories of sexual violence. In her song’s videoclip she says “1 in 4 people experience sexual assault in their lifetime. The odds are that at least 25% of you are reading this.” Which I feel is an powerful message to create awareness.
An art project similar to mine is that of Jenny Holzer. Her work follows a similar concept in that she also artistically portrays women’s experiences. The American-Italian artist Jenny Holzer is known for the texts that she displays on various installations. She used words from victims of sexual abuse in texts that she then displayed in various places. This exhibition is called "I WOKE UP NAKED" (Parsa & Parsa, 2019). This project is comparable with mine for it doesn’t aim for blame, it only shows the rough unfiltered reality of women’s safety issues.
One artistic and activist piece on this theme that I felt was less aligned with what I’m trying to achieve is a song by Sofia Isella. In my view, the song she created conveys more anger and is more accusatory than empowering. Artist Sofia Isella, a well-known figure in the realm of art and reality surrounding female experiences, has the famous song 'The Doll People' (SOFIA ISELLA, 2024) in which she describes women as artworks with legs, art that you can fuck and that says nothing. Although I find "The Doll People" a beautiful song for creating attention and providing a glimpse into women's reality. I understand that it can create a counterthought. Namely, the "Not all men" urge from men to indicate that they are not part of the problem.
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