Welcome back to Feminist Faves—our weekly round-up of powerful and punchy Instagram posts from feminist celebrities, activists, luminaries and influencers. Want to see more of what you like next week? Tag @Ms_Magazine in the comments next time!
With everything going on in the world, art is an amazing way to not only find inspiration, but to feel less alone and more in power.
For your viewing pleasure, we rounded up some of our favorite women artist’s work from this week—
Photographer and director Ashley Armitage took these amazing shots of fellow artist Mary Benoit brushing out her armpit hair. We love the simplicity and vulnerability of this shot, but we love the message even more: normalize body hair!
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0HKM5HAxSB/
*Disclaimer: This is my work.* This is a set of film photos from a prochoice event I threw in order to combine my two passions: art and activism. The result was these photos of other young activists from all over California, all of whom are proudly standing up and speaking out for reproductive justice.
“Indian, feminist, trans/genderfluid” illustrator Anshika Khullar shares this powerful piece all about believing and uplifting various groups of oppressed people. Not only is this illustration powerful, but Khullar wrote a beautiful caption to accompany it, urging us to support each other—even if we can’t personally relate to each other’s struggles.
Brooklyn-based artist Eva Evans made this amazing short film titled “Girls Will Be,” which gives viewers “an uncomfortably firsthand close-up of the loss of innocence of a teen girl as her desire to be accepted by peers—and by extension society—makes her vulnerable to their perversely warped value system.” To watch the full film, click here.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzNTxREH5tm/
London- and Amsterdam-based photographer and director Sophie Ebrard shared this beautiful image of her breastfeeding, along with the heartbreaking story of how she lost a job after she informed them she would be breastfeeding her baby during her lunch break. Ebrard hit back by self-publishing a piece about what she felt was a failure of the creative industry on their commitment to true equality. To read the piece, click here.
Self-described as “the feminist you were warned about,” Caitlin Blunnie shares this beautiful drawing with an important message: We must resist. Blunnie dedicates most of her artwork to fighting for reproductive justice, but no matter the feminist cause, all her drawings are empowering, radical and oh-so-very beautiful.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0DlwKyi2BZ/
Photographer and art director Carlota Guerrero shares this beautiful dreamy image along with a “vagina poem” that reminds us of our one true home: ourselves.
Karina Rozwadowska dedicates her work to “documenting daily female life”—resulting in truly powerful work. This portrait of a young student comes with a beautiful interview that has us falling in love with both of them.
If you’d like to find more amazing artists, check out GiF (dedicated to promoting women in film), Girlgaze (dedicated to female-identifying and non-binary photographers) or Women Artists (dedicated to women in the visual arts).
Ali Marsh is an editorial intern at Ms. Magazine in Los Angeles. A rising senior at American University, Ali is majoring in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies with a double minor in Justice and Studio Art. She is a self-published author of a writing/film photo book based off her six months of solo backpacking across Europe. She was one of the focuses of a Vice documentary series about inspirational women, and her activism has led her to be featured in Time Magazine, i-D, New York Times, Quartz, LadyGunn, Topshop and more. She is known for her frequent live streams on Instagram where she discusses politics and current events. You can find her here Instagram
