Virtual Capture of a Movement: Women’s Marches in Toronto, Washington D. C. and London (2017-2020)

Women’s Marches in Toronto in 2017 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister)

Four years ago, misogynistic and racist Donald Trump was elected as the president of the United States. Feminists and their allies were shocked, saddened, angered and resisted. They marched on the streets in Washington D. C., Toronto and other places all over the world.

Women’s Marches in Toronto in 2017 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister)

Women’s Marches in Toronto in 2017 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister)

Women’s Marches in Toronto in 2017 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister)

As a journalist and photographer, I followed the movement by photographing the Women’s Marches in Toronto in 2017 and 2018, Washington D. C. in 2019 and London (UK) in 2020. 

Women’s Marches in Toronto in 2018 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister)

Women’s Marches in  Washington D. C. in 2019 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister)

 Women’s Marches in  Washington D. C. in 2019 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister)

 “Speaking to Power” protest in London, UK in 2020 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister) 

 “Speaking to Power” protest in London, UK in 2020 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister) 

Photographs of Women’s Marches in Toronto in 2017 and 2018, Washington D. C in 2019 and London (UK) in 2020 have been exhibited at York University, University of Toronto, Doors Open Markham, and the Markham Public Library in Canada and the Gallery of OWSPACE bookstore in China.

“On January 21, 2017, directly after the inauguration of President Donald Trump in the United States, feminists globally embarked on the creation of the largest political assembly of people in history," Professor Judith Taylor in the Department of Sociology and the Women and Gender Studies Institute, University of Toronto, stated in the foreword she wrote for the photography exhibition at the University of Toronto in 2019. “The march, now in its third year, has become a way for citizens to voice their displeasure with what a Trump presidency has wrought and to galvanize local, ongoing feminist campaigns that preceded Trump around the globe.” 

“Yafang Shi’s photography is incisive and iconic, capturing the incredible diversity of concern and participant alike, and the triumph and pain of political expression. Shi’s photographs ensure longevity of protestors concerns, and rumination on demands well after the streets have been cleared, ” Taylor said in the foreword.

I witnessed how the movement had evolved with grassroots efforts to make it  a more inclusive one. One slogan in the Women’s March spoke loudly: “If it isn’t intersectional, it isn’t feminism.” 

Women’s Marches in  Washington D. C. in 2019 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister)

In retrospec, the slogans “Black Lives Matter” and “Respect Women of Color” in the Women’s Marches became even more salient in the wake of the racial reckoning and racial justice movement this year.

Women’s Marches in  Washington D. C. in 2019 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister)

Women’s Marches in  Washington D. C. in 2019 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister)

Although Trump lost in the presidential election of November 2020, the colonialism, the gender, racial, economic and ecological inequality, discrimination against LGBTQ+, the ableism and ageism, and the crackdowns on fights for democracy will not be just disappear. Feminists and people from marginalized communities and oppressed countries continue to fight for their rights and make the world an equitable, inclusive and democratic one.

Women’s Marches in  Washington D. C. in 2019 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister)

Women’s Marches in  Washington D. C. in 2019 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister)

Women’s Marches in  Washington D. C. in 2019 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister)

 “Speaking to Power” protest in London, UK in 2020 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister) 

How women’s movement embodying women’s voices and actions on important and urgent issues will continue and evolve is to be watched.

Women’s Marches in  Washington D. C. in 2019 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister)

 Women’s Marches in Toronto in 2018 (Yafang Shi/Loving Sister)

Yafang Shi   She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Loving Sister (www.lovingsister.com). She worked for Radio Canada International of CBC, Fairchild TV/Talentvision TV and Ming Pao Daily News. She has exhibited her photography of Women's Marches at York University, University of Toronto, Markham Public Library, Doors Open Markham in Canada, and the Gallery of Owspace in China and presented on journalism and feminism on various panels. She is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists and holds a MSc in Sociology from the London School of Economics. 

Email: yshi@lovingsister.com