drawing resistance and resilience

A week-long online campaign in December 2020 to highlight locally driven initiatives to address gender-based violence (GBV).

Using graphic narratives, “Drawing Resistance and Resilience” depicted how structurally excluded communities organized, intervened and resisted issues of gender-based violence along with highlighting powerful stories of change and learnings, especially in the COVID-19 context.

The All Women Count (AWC) consortium, a consortium that CREA led , collected nine stories and worked with six illustrators based in the Global South to capture examples of resilience and learning, which were shared on CREA’s social media channels. The illustrated stories explored broad themes of GBV, queer mental health issues, sex workers’ rights, access to essentials and justice, and more.

AWC partners worked in 2020 to address GBV in the context of COVID-19, when state regulations that attempted to control the pandemic through lockdowns led to increased vulnerabilities and risk of violence for women globally. While marginalized communities experienced exacerbated vulnerability to various kinds of GBV, they were also extraordinarily resilient and AWC witnessed inspiring community-driven efforts.

From 16 December to 21 December 2020, the online campaign highlighted these locally driven initiatives. The campaign featured illustrations by Gift Kyansimare, Ishita Mehra, Nancy Cherwon, Ojoswi Sur, Sonaksha Iyengar and Sreejita Biswas.

All Women Count (AWC) partners have been working in 2020 on addressing gender-based violence (GBV). As we are aware, COVID-19 and the state regulations to address the pandemic through lockdowns have led to increased vulnerabilities and risk of violence globally.

Marginalized communities that AWC works with have experienced an exacerbated impact of vulnerability to various kinds of gender-based violence. While these communities have faced numerous challenges during the ongoing pandemic, they have also been resilient and AWC has witnessed some inspiring community driven efforts.

From 16 December – 21 December 2020, the online campaign will highlight locally driven initiatives to address these challenges. Using graphic narratives, “Drawing Resistance and Resilience” aims to depict how marginalized communities have organized, intervened and resisted issues of violence along with highlighting powerful stories of change and learnings especially in the current COVID-19 context.

AWC collected nine stories and worked with six illustrators based in the global South to capture these stories of resilience and learning, which will be shared on CREA’s social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The illustrated stories explore broad themes of gender-based violence, queer mental health issues, sex workers’ rights, access to essentials and justice and more. The campaign will feature illustrations by Gift Kyansimare, Ishita Mehra, Nancy Cherwon, Ojoswi Sur, Sonaksha Iyengar and Sreejita Biswas.

View and download the Drawing Resistance and Resilience graphic narratives below.