Kick It Out: 'What A Feminist Looks Like'

"I responded to this [the Kick It Out brief] through a variety of mediums, however my final outcome contains influences of The Fawcett Society, UN Women, ELLE magazine amongst others... I wanted something that could be transported and actually placed, in order to inspire people and to alter their perception of the unrightfully hated word, Feminism."

In response to the Kick It Out brief advocating against discrimination, I focused on the topic of sexism, equal rights and thus, feminism. After researching the general subject areas within discrimination, I found myself to be highly moved and inspired by the UN Women campaign, HeForShe - in particular, the speech by Emma Watson; hence why I focused on equal rights for women and men.

I responded to this through a variety of mediums, however my final outcome contains influences of The Fawcett Society, UN Women, ELLE magazine amongst others. I decided to do a 3D typographic piece as I wanted something that could be transported and actually placed, in order to inspire people and to alter their perception of the unrightfully hated word, Feminism. By using the Fawcett Society slogan “THIS IS WHAT A FEMINIST LOOKS LIKE” I collaged the gender-neutral Helvetica font with magazine images of females AND males, to echo the UN campaign, HeForShe.  

I encountered a number of issues when creating this piece. For one, I struggled to use a scalpel when cutting out curves letters, such as the ‘S’ and ‘O’s. It was also difficult to collage the edges of these letters, as the paper would not nearly fold around the edge. Glue was also an issue. PVA glue made the paper too saturated and wet, causing the texture to bubble and look very unprofessional, whole pritt-stick glue was far too weak. Super glue seemed to be a perfect option until it came to attaching the letters to the A2 acetate sheets (so that it could be hung from the ceiling, as the initial idea was to hang the letters using wire, however I could not obtain wire which had the holding power as well as the ability to bend and mould around the letters) as the superglue is visible where I bonded the letters to the sheet. Furthermore, the acetate sheets were actually too small for my intentions, therefore it resulted in arranging the type so that the characters slightly peaked out over the edge; this actually turned out to be successful as it enables the texture of the collage to be more visible.  

I am pleased with how I edited my selection of images that I would use for the collage. There’s a nice mix of men, women, a couple of children, and also I tried to gather a range of ethnicities. I managed this by purchasing Western fashion magazines (such as Vogue, Elle and Cosmopolitan), Men’s Health Magazine and Asian Bride Magazines. I also like how the front of the letters have a collection of small portrait images which perfectly fit the width of the characters, while the reverse of the letters are covered with one large, full face portrait each. This helps to highlight that a Feminist can be anyone and everyone; thus a large population, and that each individual counts towards making a successful difference within equality.  

If I was to improve this piece, I would have used the laser cut machine to accurately cut out the letters and I would have experimented with glue before working directly into the final piece. I would have also manage my time better in order to find suitable wire, so that I could have continued with my original idea as I feel that the message would have been clearer to read as ‘FEMINIST’ would have been on one line, not two. However, the wire could have made the piece look too ‘industrial-like’ in aesthetics, as opposed to clean and professional which was the desired effect. I think this piece responds well to feminism and definitely communicates the message that anyone can be a feminist, and that it’s everyone’s battle, not just that of women.