A sign carried by a woman during the Women's March in Washington D.C. in January 19, 2019 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister (www.lovingsister.com))
A Postscript for the Exhibition of Photography “Women’s Marches: Visual Capture of a Movement ”
by Yafang Shi, Journalist and Photographer
When the Women’s March took place in 2017, as a journalist with a feminist perspective, my eyes, mind and camera captured the emotions, atmosphere and voices of the marchers in Toronto. As feminists marched on in the following two consecutive years, I have continued to capture the images and voices of the marches in Toronto and Washington, D.C..
Women’s marches are a continuing global movement. One of the salient features of the movement is intersectionality. Diverse voices of feminists from diverse background like gender, race, class have been driving the movement towards a more inclusive one. Gender equality can only be achieved with other social transformations like racial justice, economic justice, justice for indigenous peoples and environmental justice. As a racial minority woman myself, I have witnessed how feminists from marginalized communities like racial minority women, women with disabilities, LGBTQ people and indigenous peoples have driven the movement to be a more inclusive one and have driven the transformation of the society to be a more inclusive one at large.
In the Canadian media landscape, women’s voices, especially racial minority women’s voices, have not been represented adequately. A study by Informed Opinions in 2016 shows that men represented “71 per cent of all those quoted or interviewed for newspaper articles and broadcast segments” in Canadian media. I hope this project speaks for the need for a media landscape with more diverse representation of voices of people from diverse background, and it serves as an effort to drive a more diverse representation of voices in the media in Canada.
The images from the women’s marches have been exhibited at the Markham Public Library and the Markham Doors Open event with the theme “Towards a Fair and Just Society”. Now it is at the campus of University of Toronto with welcoming arms from the D.G. Ivey Library, New College, and Women and Gender Studies Institute, University of Toronto. I hope that the images and voices from the marches serve as a catalyst to spark conversations and inspire actions for transforming the world into a better place.
Women’s marches reflect local unique concerns and common global issues as well. As a journalist I will continue following the movement in different parts of the world in the coming years, and I will continue exhibiting the images and presenting the voices from the movement in different parts of the world.
During this incredible journey of documenting and exhibiting the images of women’s marches many people have supported me and the project with all their hearts. I am not able to name them all but a few among them: Amy Arsenio and Elizabeth Myers, the community librarians at the Markham Public library; Andrew Fuyarchuk, Vice-Chair for Markham Doors Open; Jeff Newman, College Librarian, New College, University of Toronto; Professor Judith Taylor, Women and Gender Studies Institute, University of Toronto; Tiziana Knox, a teacher and the facilitator of Newcomer Women’s Meetup at the Aurora Public Library.
I look forward to the conversations! You are welcome to leave your comments in the guest book or email me directly at yshi@lovingsister.com.
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