Girls Advocate Non-Violence Through Art with Voices Her'd Visionaries

"Love should be a breeze, not a storm," reads a day-glo orange T-shirt hanging on the wall. "Love shouldn't be... a game of tug-o-war," states another.

The shirts were created as part of the “Love Should Always Be Safe” campaign, created by Voices Her'd Visionaries of the Gowanus-based Groundswell Community Mural Project organization. The campaign theme was envisioned by fourteen girls, aged 15 to 18-years-old, who have been meeting and discussing themes since the fall of 2010.

The final products, displayed in forms like glossy posters and graphic t-shirts, are being used for a public awareness campaign for Day One, a not-for profit teen advocacy program that helps end teen dating abuse among New York residents under the age of 24. The campaign combines digital content and printed materials, all advocating awareness and prevention of teen dating violence. The pieces are produced in a tech-savvy, adolescent context, with themes that range from cyber abuse and invasion of privacy on Facebook, to physical and verbal abuse.

Along with T-shirts and posters, the girls have engineered and maintained their own blog, which they update regularly.

The pilot project is part of Groundswell's Summer Leadership Institute (SLI), an annual program that engages 100 teens in art-based projects during the summer months.

The exhibit, which took place in the early evening on August 31, showed walls crammed with colorful imagery and phrases condemning violence among teens. The opening was attended by friends and local supporters, including Downstate Communications and Technology Coordinator James Vogel, from the office of Senator Velmanette Montgomery of the 18th District.

“There are lots of type of abuse we showed,” explains Tichinia Alexander, one of the girls behind the colorful graphics mounted on the walls. “There is sexual, financial, psychological, technological abuse, emotional and more.”

This is Alexander's first year participating in the program.

Michelle Lopez has been participating in the Voices Her'd Visionaries programs for two years now, and is proud of the work the girls have produced together.

“It was a really long process and very exhausting. But it was worth it in the end,” says Lopez, who hopes to work the Voices Her'd Visionaries for a third year.

The message they hope to promote with their work is basic.

“Abuse isn't right and it has to be dealt with,” says Lopez.

“People always feel they have a reason, but it's wrong. And if they could put themselves in the other person's shoes, then maybe they could understand that,” added Alexander.

The girls came up with the concept after months of brainstorming and discussion. They then pitched their final concept to Day 1 organizers, and set to work with lead artist Nicole Schulman.

“The process was great. The girls are very intelligent and very gifted. We taught the technical skills – but this was their own concept,” says Schulman. She and assistant artist Tanya Linn Albrigtson-Frable (“Her work is just as important as the lead artist's,” Schulman is quick to point out), are impressed with the girls' work ethic and artistic dedication, as well as with the emotional dedication the artists have shown throughout the campaign.

This and other Groundswell projects rely heavily on the funding and support of private companies and public organizations, and have garnered the support of an extensive list of beneficiaries from the likes of EILEEN FISHER to the National Endowment for the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts.

We have seen before, but this year the organization ventured into a new medium to help young girls express themselves, while becoming pros in graphic design art forms such as Adobe Illustrator, PhotoShop and screenprinting.

The girls are all participating as part of Groundswell's summer jobs program – meaning this is not just an extra-curricular activity, but a full-time job for the young artists. Besides promoting social justice and working with the community to advocate for girls, the young women of the Voices Her'd Visionaries campaign are engaging in technological training, building skills to help shape their future.

Joy Marie Conway, who until recently has been a key member of Day One, has been meeting with the girls since spring of this year. Groundswell approached the organization with the idea of art as a tool for discussion, and they started with the basics.

“We had to establish things like how teen dating violence looks – how is abuse among teens different from abuse among adults? We looked at public perceptions, how it looks and how it is perceived,” explained Conway.

The final product is hopefully just a beginning, both for the artists and new mediums in Voices Her'd – and most importantly for the youth the girls hope to reach.

As someone who has dealt with issues of abuse in the past, Voices Her'd member Dakota Austin sees the value in the project.

“It was a ball,” she gushed during opening remarks at the ceremony. “I'm so grateful to be able to share this with all of you,” she said to her fellow friends and artists.