Intervention Project - Veronica Gomez

#MeToo

(NJCU Rossey hall 3rd floor) (#MeToo Movement Painting)

The Me Too Movement, founded by activist Tarana Burke in 2006 and gaining widespread attention in 2017, has become a global symbol of resistance against sexual harassment and assault. It provides a platform for survivors to share their stories, offering solidarity and support while demanding accountability from abusers and institutions that enable abuse. The movement challenges deeply entrenched patriarchal norms that prioritize protecting powerful individuals over believing and supporting victims. Through collective voices, Me Too has exposed the prevalence of sexual violence across various industries, from Hollywood to politics, emphasizing that this issue transcends boundaries of race, class, and gender. The movement has also sparked necessary conversations about consent, power dynamics, and the need for systemic change to dismantle the structures that perpetuate abuse. This ongoing effort to shift the narrative from silence to empowerment aligns with the visual themes in my painting, which confronts the silencing of survivors and the societal refusal to acknowledge abuse.

I chose to paint about the Me Too Movement, I wanted to depict the silencing and disbelief victims often face. The central imagery includes eyes and mouths being covered, symbolizing how survivors are often silenced, discredited, or ignored, as society tends to protect abusers rather than believe victims. This visual metaphor speaks to the systemic ways in which patriarchy perpetuates abuse by enforcing silence and complicity.

Bell Hooks addresses this in ‘Understanding Patriarchy’, stating, "Patriarchy demands of men that they become and remain emotional cripples." This speaks to the way systems of power distort emotional relationships and encourage a lack of empathy, resulting in the continued silencing of survivors. Through the image of covered mouths, I aim to represent the forced silence that the Me Too Movement seeks to break, while the covered eyes reflect society's deliberate blindness to abuse.

Hooks also writes, "Patriarchal masculinity insists that real men must prove their manhood by dominating others," which connects to the narrative of victims being disbelieved to maintain structures of domination. My painting challenges this by visually confronting the way society upholds these harmful dynamics, calling for a shift in how we listen to and support survivors.

When considering how we can use art to inspire advocacy, the visual language can serve as a powerful tool. In past protests, simple but impactful symbols and messages were used to amplify a cause. For instance, wearable items like shirts that feature symbolic imagery such as a gagged mouth can communicate the silencing of victims, urging people to question these dynamics. In ‘The Art of Activism’, it is noted that art "makes the invisible visible," which is exactly what the Me Too Movement seeks to achieve by bringing hidden abuses into public discourse.