Sixteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

This paper examines art activism and protest in Mexico over the course of 2020 while drawing connections to the shadows of violence against women all over the world since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic. Femicide (also referred to as feminicide interchangeably) refers to the killing of women based on their gender. This term also encompasses the imbalance of gender in structures of power that often leads to corruption and neglect by authorities surrounding the murder of cisgender women, transgender women, and gender non-conforming individuals. I write and research from my own subjective positioning as a queer white woman living on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg peoples (Ottawa, Canada). Drawing on queer theory, feminist theory, and theories of collective trauma and memory, I investigate feminist modes of creative revolt in Mexico City to argue for the importance of making visible gendered violence in the public sphere. Street art, memorial art, protest art, performance art, and occupation as protest all weave their way into a narrative of community survival and disruption under a state that fails to protect feminine bodies. This research is drawn from my PhD dissertation that traces visible and artistic evidence of heightened violence against womxn during a global pandemic.