(http://stylabl.com)
Street Heroines •
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“I’m a new voice, writing a new chapter on the movement told to me directly by female gra⇞㚊ti and street artists themselves.” Sian
First of all congratulations on the amazing female empowerment movement you have started in the art world. You are educating people in a very powerful way about the struggle for creative space, and lack of recognition faced by women street artists. Can you please tell me what inspired this creative journey? Alexandra
Over the past 16 years I’ve lived around the world in four di erent countries, 5 major cities where I casually documented gra ti and street art. However, not until four years ago, while walking down the street in Queens to explore urban art mecca 5 Pointz, did it occur to me that women could be responsible for some of the illegal or legal street art that I’d been photographing. That day I saw two young women standing before me with spray paint cans in hand, painting a wall in Queens. It was like I was staring at aliens, at something I’d never seen before and I got super excited! My mind started racing with questions: what were they doing there? How did they know each other? Were there other women doing this as well? Am I the last one to nd out that women are actually part of this culture? I, like
most people, assumed that gra ti and street art was a man’s world. Well, maybe because it always had been! Being a traveled, cultured, educated, empathetic, independent woman, I am embarrassed to admit that I never considered women to be part of the movement. But with such little recognition they’ve received over the years, how would I have known?
Sian
I love how you have taken it a step further and reached out to female artists on a global scale. I presume the street art communities and struggle di廬ꊛer greatly by country. Just having lived the last nine years in Mexico myself, I struggled daily with gender equality issues. What are some drastic di廬ꊛerences you saw in comparison to the United States? Alexandra
I believe that artists in America feel more empowered, more independent. In Latin America women are subject to machismo constructs at home and in public. Many artists I’ve seen paint tend to put those sentiments in their work while collaborating together to strengthen female identity in the public space. I’ve been to two all female street art festivals, both in South America, where women unite to tackle racism and gender inequality, issues that are still readily apparent.
Sian
Where do you see this project going in the future. I know you mentioned taking it a step further and having teams located internationally to follow a variety of artists like TooFly in Edcuador and Magrela in Brazil. Alexandra
To complete the Street Heroines documentary we need to nish documenting Fusca in Mexico City and Magrela in São Paulo with other artists along the way. I was in Ecuador last fall to attend Warmi! Paint, an all female urban art festival put on by TooFly, where Lady Pink and Martha Cooper were the honored guests. So that was a very special occasion to shoot and be surrounded by such pioneering women. Beyond the documentary lm, I would like to turn Street Heroines into a travel series to explore more cities around the world where women are leaving their mark.
Sian
You have been a one-woman show for three years now and you have continued to feel empowered and keep going on this powerful journey. What have been the biggest struggles to this point? Alexandra
As more and more people get wind of the project and show their excitement, I become more inspired to nish what I set out to accomplish- capture the collective voice of women who’ve risked and sacri ced their fair share to create their own artistic paths. But I won’t lie, I’ve had to transform my lifestyle and sacri ce certain relationships to keep Street Heroines alive. But I think that’s what makes me identify so much with my subjects. Sometimes it is an isolating job, shooting, producing, editing & translating everything. But if the project resonates and inspires someone else, it’s worth it!
Sian
Can you please tell me about your recent Kickstarter project you just launched and what your goals are through such an initiative? Alexandra
Our Kickstarter goal is $53K. Those funds will go directly to booking a small team to nish shooting and allow us to hire an editor to get a rough cut of the lm done by the end of the year. As this documentary will be the rst of its kind, we want to do it right in order to properly cement the contributions of women into the history of gra ti and street art. Please support! There are some great incentives (besides being part of history!)- original art, beautiful photographs, your own mural, etc.
STREET HEROINES Alexandra Henry Street Heroines is a documentary film on the courage and creativity of female graffiti & street artists from around the world.
New York, NY 39%
$21,169 10
funded pledged days to go
Sian
What’s next for Street Heroines? I see that you are about to pitch your project at The Brooklyn Film Festival. Alexandra
Yes, on June 11th I will be pitching the documentary at the Brooklyn Film Festival Exchange in front of top industry documentarians! It will be my rst public pitch session. With the lm Street Heroines, my hope is to start a conversation on female empowerment in the urban environment and its implications on society as a whole. By paying tribute to the pioneers of the past while looking to the talents of the future, the multi-generational project will extend beyond the lm into a transmedia dialog that encompasses many more compelling stories from female artists traversing the gra ti and street art movement.
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(https://twitter.com/streetheroines)
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(https://vimeo.com/channels/streetheroines)
(http://www.streetheroines lm.com/)