WHEN WOMEN DISRUPT (WWD) (an intersectional feminist artist collective composed of Jessica Sabogal, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh and Melinda James), collaborated with students from the “Women: Designing Media for Social Change” class. The event started out with a class discussion, then a panel discussion with the three artists and the greater USC Annenberg community. The following day, the group, along with students worked on an art installation, titled “Dismantle Whiteness and Misogyny on this Campus” which can be found outside of the ASC building on USC’s campus. 

The event was sponsored by the Institute for Diversity and Empowerment at Annenberg (IDEA) and USC Visions & Voices as part of USC Annenberg’s “Off the Wall” series of multi-media art.

The Daily Trojan wrote a piece, “Annenberg mural addresses diversity, empowerment,” about the exhibit.

Since the summer of 2017, WWD has traveled throughout the United States installing small and large-scale art which call attention to racism, sexism and xenophobia. By confronting communities in the public space with art that uplifts the voices and sacredness of people whom history has often rendered invisible and less than human, WWD’s intention is to provoke greater discussion and thinking about the institutionalized and everyday systems of power and representation that reinforce racism, patriarchy and inequity. 

KEYWORDS

WHITENESS: Distinct from being white, whiteness refers to an unmarked and unnamed place of advantage, privilege or domination; a lens through which white people tend to see themselves and others; an organizing principle that shapes institutions, policies, and social relations.

MISOGYNY: The hatred of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women or girls; can be manifested in numerous ways, including social exclusion, sex discrimination, violence, objectification, demeaning and idealized representation.

PATRIARCHY: A political-social system in which males hold a disproportionately large share of power; which insists males are inherently superior and endowed with the right to dominate and rule; which maintains male dominance through various forms of physical and psychological violence; which denies people access to full-emotional well-being; which everyone is implicated in.