Tatyana Fazlalizadeh

Last updated
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh
Born
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.
Nationality American
Education University of the Arts
Known for Illustrator, painting, public art
Website tlynnfaz.com

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh (born 1985) [1] is an American artist, activist, and freelance illustrator. She is best known as the creator of the campaign and art exhibition Stop Telling Women to Smile. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Contents

Biography

Fazlalizadeh was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. [7] Her mother was an artist and art teacher, but Tatyana did not begin creating her own art until she was in high school. [8] She moved to Philadelphia to attend the University of the Arts, graduating in 2007 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. [9] She is of black and Iranian descent. [2]

Career

Style and work

Fazlalizadeh is primarily an oil painter. [10] Her work featuring Barack Obama was included in the book Art For Obama: Designing Manifest Hope and the Campaign for Change , which was edited by artist Shepard Fairey. [11] She is most well known for her Stop Telling Women to Smile campaign. [2]

In addition to her work as an oil painter, Fazlalizadeh works as a street artist. Most of her public works are posters, like the ones found in the Stop Telling Women to Smile campaign. Much of Fazlalizadeh's public works are designed to be ephemeral because of the way they are applied to the surface with wheatpaste, weather and time cause the posters to fall apart. Given that her works are in the public domain and often have confrontational subject matter, they are often vandalized. [12]

Stop Telling Women to Smile

In 2012 Fazlalizadeh gained notoriety when she began to use street art to speak out against the street harassment of women. Her poster campaign, Stop Telling Women to Smile (STWTS), was based upon interviews conducted with women about their experiences of public sexual harassment. Each poster features a portrait of a woman, along with a caption responding to her experience. [2] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] Captions include statements such as "My outfit is not an invitation" and "No, you can't talk to me for a minute." [21] The campaign offers women an opportunity to fight back against their harassers. [10]

The original Stop Telling Me to Smile posters were displayed in Fazlalizadeh's neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City. Fazlalizadeh subsequently ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to bring Stop Telling Women to Smile posters to other cities across the United States. [13]

In 2015, Fazlalizadeh took the project to Mexico. In April 2015 Fazlalizadeh created "International Wheat Pasting Day" as another continuation of the Stop Telling Women to Smile campaign. As a part of this event, participants, in groups of three, went out on April 17, 2015 with images received from Fazlalizadeh to paste works all over the world in various languages. Participants were also able to upload their plans and accomplishments to the STWTS website. Through this project Fazlalizadeh aims to have her work and message reach a larger audience and to engage her supporters in her practice. [22]

Published in 2020, Stop Telling Women to Smile: Stories of Street Harassment and How We're Taking Back Our Power, documents Fazlalizadeh's street art project. The book includes excerpts from the original interviews and images from STWTS, revealing Fazlalizadeh's process and providing a "contribution to the important conversation about endemic sexism." [23]

Recent work

In response to the 2016 United States presidential election, Fazlalizadeh wanted to make a work in her home and historically Republican Party state of Oklahoma. The text on the piece includes, "America is black. It is Native. It wears hijab. It is Spanish speaking tongue. It is migrant. It is a woman. Has been here. And it's not going anywhere." In this piece the location of the piece in Oklahoma is just as important as the overall concept to Fazlalizadeh, according to her, because of its political history. [12] Fazlalizadeh's work appears in the Netflix TV series She's Gotta Have It . [24]

In 2018 Fazlalizadeh was a participating artist in Round 48: "Beyond Social Practice" at Project Row Houses in Houston. Her installation "The Personal as Political" incorporated the stories of people who identify as Black, queer, and/or women to create political art. [25] [26]

In 2020, Fazlalizadeh created a mural series in New York City featuring portraits of Breonna Taylor, Atatiana Jefferson, Tony McDade, and Nina Pop as part of her work addressing racial and transphobic violence. [27] [28]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smiley</span> Stylized image of a smiling face

A smiley, sometimes called a smiley face, is a basic ideogram representing a smiling face. Since the 1950s, it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram or as a form of communication, such as emoticons. The smiley began as two dots and a line representing eyes and a mouth. More elaborate designs in the 1950s emerged, with noses, eyebrows, and outlines. New York radio station WMCA used a yellow and black design for its "Good Guys" campaign in the early 1960s. More yellow-and-black designs appeared in the 1960s and 1970s, including works by Harvey Ross Ball in 1963, and Franklin Loufrani in 1971. Today, The Smiley Company founded by Franklin Loufrani claims to hold the rights to the smiley face in over 100 countries. It has become one of the top 100 licensing companies globally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guerrilla Girls</span> Activists protesting sexism and racism in the art world

Guerrilla Girls is an anonymous group of feminist, female artists devoted to fighting sexism and racism within the art world. The group formed in New York City in 1985, born out of a picket against the Museum of Modern Art the previous year. The core of the group's work is bringing gender and racial inequality into focus within the greater arts community and society at large. The Guerrilla Girls employ culture jamming in the form of posters, books, billboards, lectures, interviews, public appearances and internet interventions to expose disparities, discrimination, and corruption. They also often use humor in their work to make their serious messages engaging. The Guerrilla Girls are known for their "guerrilla" tactics, hence their name, such as hanging up posters or staging surprise exhibitions. To remain anonymous, members don gorilla masks. To permit individual identities in interviews, they use pseudonyms that refer to deceased female artists such as Frida Kahlo, Käthe Kollwitz, and Alice Neel, as well as writers and activists, such as Gertrude Stein and Harriet Tubman. According to GG1, identities are concealed because issues matter more than individual identities, "Mainly, we wanted the focus to be on the issues, not on our personalities or our own work."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shepard Fairey</span> American contemporary street artist, graphic designer activist and illustrator

Frank Shepard Fairey is an American contemporary artist, activist and founder of OBEY Clothing who emerged from the skateboarding scene. In 1989, he designed the "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (...OBEY...) sticker campaign while attending the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Veirs</span> American singer-songwriter

Laura Pauline Veirs is an American singer-songwriter based in Portland, Oregon. She is known for her folk and alternative country records and live performances as well as her collaboration with Neko Case and k.d. lang on the case/lang/veirs project. Veirs has written a children's book and hosts a podcast about parenting and performing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faith Ringgold</span> American artist (1930–2024)

Faith Ringgold was an American painter, author, mixed media sculptor, performance artist, and intersectional activist, perhaps best known for her narrative quilts.

Right to Be is a nonprofit organization working to end harassment in all its forms, through bystander intervention trainings, storytelling, and grassroots initiatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Street harassment</span> Harassment occurring in a public setting

Street harassment is a form of harassment, primarily sexual harassment that consists of unwanted sexualised comments, provocative gestures, honking, wolf whistles, indecent exposures, stalking, persistent sexual advances, and touching by strangers, in public areas such as streets, shopping malls and public transportation. Besides actions or comments that contain a sexual connotation, it often includes homophobic and transphobic slurs, and hateful comments referencing race, religion, class, ethnicity and disability. The practice is rooted in power and control and is often a reflection of societal discrimination, and has been argued to sometimes result from a lack of opportunities for expression of interest or affection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paula Scher</span> American graphic designer and painter

Paula Scher is an American graphic designer, painter and art educator in design. She also served as the first female principal at Pentagram, which she joined in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivia Munn</span> American actress (born 1980)

Lisa Olivia Munn is an American actress. After an internship at a news station in Tulsa, she moved to Los Angeles where she began her professional career as a television host for the gaming network G4, primarily on the series Attack of the Show! from 2006 until 2010. Munn appeared as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from 2010 to 2011. She is known for her three-season-long portrayal of Sloan Sabbith in Aaron Sorkin's HBO political drama series The Newsroom (2012–2014).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminist art movement in the United States</span> Promoting the study, creation, understanding, and promotion of womens art, began in 1970s

The feminist art movement in the United States began in the early 1970s and sought to promote the study, creation, understanding and promotion of women's art. First-generation feminist artists include Judy Chicago, Miriam Schapiro, Suzanne Lacy, Judith Bernstein, Sheila de Bretteville, Mary Beth Edelson, Carolee Schneeman, Rachel Rosenthal, and many other women. They were part of the Feminist art movement in the United States in the early 1970s to develop feminist writing and art. The movement spread quickly through museum protests in both New York and Los Angeles, via an early network called W.E.B. that disseminated news of feminist art activities from 1971 to 1973 in a nationally circulated newsletter, and at conferences such as the West Coast Women's Artists Conference held at California Institute of the Arts and the Conference of Women in the Visual Arts, at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C..

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anita Sarkeesian</span> Canadian-American feminist media critic

Anita Sarkeesian is a Canadian-American feminist media critic. She is the founder of Feminist Frequency, a website that hosts videos and commentary analyzing portrayals of women in popular culture. Her video series Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, examines tropes in the depiction of female video game characters. Media scholar Soraya Murray calls Sarkeesian emblematic of "a burgeoning organized feminist critique" of stereotyped and objectified portrayals of women in video games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">We Can Do It!</span> American World War II wartime poster

"We Can Do It!" is an American World War II wartime poster produced by J. Howard Miller in 1943 for Westinghouse Electric as an inspirational image to boost female worker morale.

<i>Kvinneakt</i> Statue in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Kvinneakt is an abstract bronze sculpture located on the Transit Mall of downtown Portland, Oregon. Designed and created by Norman J. Taylor between 1973 and 1975, the work was funded by TriMet and the United States Department of Transportation and was installed on the Transit Mall in 1977. The following year Kvinneakt appeared in the "Expose Yourself to Art" poster which featured future Mayor of Portland Bud Clark flashing the sculpture. It remained in place until November 2006 when it was removed temporarily during renovation of the Transit Mall and the installation of the MAX Light Rail on the mall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hend Kheera</span> Egyptian street artist (born 1981)

Hend Kheera is an Egyptian street artist whose work features a mix of stencils and slogans. She is one of the leaders of Egypt's street-art boom since the 2011 uprising. Kheera has been an active participant in anti-sexual harassment campaign in Egypt in response to Mass sexual assault in Egypt

Dana Tiger is a Muscogee artist of Seminole and Cherokee descent from Oklahoma. Her artwork focuses on portrayals of strong women. She uses art as a medium for activism and raising awareness. Tiger was inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame in 2001.

Jessica Sabogal is a queer Colombian-American muralist and stencil spray paint artist who is currently active in the Bay Area. She's best known for her "Women Are Perfect! " visual campaign which she created as an artist in residence in 2014 at the Galeria de la Raza, and she is currently active in the "We The People" public art campaign created in collaboration with Shepard Fairey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tetyana Ramus</span> Ukrainian artist, designer, TV and radio journalist (born 1980)

Tetyana Olehivna Ramus is an artist, designer, TV and radio journalist, public activist, producer, publisher, author, and presenter.

Wendy Murray, is a visual artist and arts educator, formerly known as Mini Graff. Under her former persona, Murray worked as an urban street-poster artist between 2003 and 2010, working in and around Sydney's urban fringe. Since 2014, Murray's art expanded into traditional forms of drawing and artist book design, whilst still engaging with social and political issues through poster-making. Murray's use of letraset transfers, accompanied with vibrant colours and fluorescent inks, references the work of studios from the 1960s through to the 1980s, including the community-based Earthworks Poster Collective and Redback Graphix. A 2018 collaboration with The Urban Crew, a 17-person collective of socially engaged geographers, planners, political scientists and sociologists, resulted in the Sydney – We Need to Talk! artist book.

Julie S. Lalonde is a Franco-Ontarian women's rights advocate, author, and educator. She has created multiple feminist organizations and education campaigns, and has offered many training sessions surrounding sexual violence, harassment, and bystander intervention. Her first book, Resilience is Futile: The Life and Death and Life of Julie S. Lalonde, was published in February 2020.

References

  1. ↑ "Tatyana Fazlalizadeh". Artspace . Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Lee, Felicia R. (9 April 2014). "An Artist Demands Civility on the Street With Grit and Buckets of Paste" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on 4 September 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  3. ↑ "Creative Ambassadors - Tatyana Fazlalizadeh". Philly 360 . Archived from the original on 24 March 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  4. ↑ Rowan, Tommy (29 May 2013). "South Philly mural honors The Roots". Metro . Archived from the original on 1 May 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
  5. ↑ Hua, Vee (19 January 2009). "Tatyana Fazlalizadeh Reveals Her New Obama Illustration". Redefine . Archived from the original on 19 June 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  6. ↑ "The Roots Mural Project - Tatyana Fazlalizadeh Exhibition". City of Philadelphia - Mural Arts Program . April 2012. Archived from the original on 9 December 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  7. ↑ "Stop Telling Women to Smile artist returns to Oklahoma". Oklahoma Contemporary (Press release). 5 February 2019. Archived from the original on 25 September 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  8. ↑ Peterson, Latoya (31 March 2015). "Taking Space: Tatyana Fazlalizadeh on Street Art". Fusion.net. Archived from the original on 3 September 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  9. ↑ "Stop Telling Women to Smile: About". Stop Telling Women to Smile. 22 March 2013. Archived from the original on 13 December 2018. Retrieved 13 April 2015– via Tumblr.
  10. 1 2 Alvarez, Ana Cecilia (1 August 2013). "Hey Stranger, Stop Telling Me To Smile". The Daily Beast . Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  11. ↑ "Events Calendar - Leeway Foundation". Leeway Foundation. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  12. 1 2 Frank, Priscilla (29 November 2016). "Street Artist Delivers Powerful Message To White America". The Huffington Post . Archived from the original on 3 March 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  13. 1 2 Little, Anita (2013). "If these walls could talk". Ms. Magazine (Fall): 16.
  14. ↑ Nessen, Stephen (15 June 2013). "Fighting Unwanted Cat Calls, One Poster At A Time". NPR . Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  15. ↑ Pugachevsky, Julia (4 March 2013). "Tatyana Fazlalizadeh's Provocative Anti-Street Harassment Posters". Flavorwire . Archived from the original on 26 June 2024. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  16. ↑ Schulten, Katherine (5 March 2013). "Is It O.K. for Men and Boys to Comment on Women and Girls on the Street?". The Learning Network - The New York Times . Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  17. ↑ "Fresthetic Video: Tatyana Fazlalizadeh Artist Talk". Arts Observer. 11 April 2013. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  18. ↑ Park, Su Sie (10 March 2013). "Artist plasters Brooklyn in anti-street harassment posters". Washington Square News . Archived from the original on 30 July 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  19. ↑ Adams, Chanelle (27 March 2013). "Featured Artist: Tatyana Fazlalizadeh". Bluestockings Magazine. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  20. ↑ Goldberg, Eleanor (28 March 2013). "New York Street Art Project Aims To Put An End To Street Harassment". The Huffington Post . Archived from the original on 26 June 2024. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  21. ↑ Liss-Schultz, Nina (27 November 2013). "Meet the woman who waged an artistic war against her street harassers". Mother Jones . Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  22. ↑ Brooks, Katherine (6 December 2017) [13 April 2015]. "This International Public Art Event Asks Us All To Confront Catcallers". The Huffington Post . Archived from the original on 30 April 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  23. ↑ "Book Review: Stop Telling Women to Smile". Kirkus Reviews . 17 November 2019. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  24. ↑ Blake, Meredith (18 November 2017). "'I am inherently politicized': DeWanda Wise on becoming Spike Lee's millennial Nola Darling". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on 10 March 2024. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  25. ↑ Torres, Nataly (1 October 2018). "Project Row Houses Presents Round 48: Beyond Social Practice". Project Row Houses . Archived from the original on 18 April 2024. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  26. ↑ "Round 48". Project Row Houses . 2019. Archived from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  27. ↑ Kim, Mina (7 August 2020). "Artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh on the Power of Street Art as Protest". KQED . Archived from the original on 29 May 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  28. ↑ "Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, wheat paste installation, 2020". The Greene Space. Archived from the original on 22 February 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.