Source

Source

"Image Credit: Carol Rossetti

When Brazilian graphic designer Carol Rossetti began posting colorful illustrations of women and their stories to Facebook, she had no idea how popular they would become. 

Thousands of shares throughout the world later, the appeal of Rosetti’s work is clear. Much like the street art phenomenon Stop Telling Women To Smile, Rossetti’s empowering images are the kind you want to post on every street corner, as both a reminder and affirmation of women’s bodily autonomy. 

"It has always bothered me, the world’s attempts to control women’s bodies, behavior and identities," Rossetti told Mic via email. "It’s a kind of oppression so deeply entangled in our culture that most people don’t even see it’s there, and how cruel it can be."

Rossetti’s illustrations touch upon an impressive range of intersectional topics, including LGBTQ identity, body image, ageism, racism, sexism and ableism. Some characters are based on the experiences of friends or her own life, while others draw inspiration from the stories many women have shared across the Internet. 

"I see those situations I portray every day," she wrote. "I lived some of them myself."

Despite quickly garnering thousands of enthusiastic comments and shares on Facebook, the project started as something personal — so personal, in fact, that Rossetti is still figuring out what to call it. For now, the images reside in albums simply titled “WOMEN in english!" or "Mujeres en español!" which is fitting: Rossetti’s illustrations encompass a vast set of experiences that together create a powerful picture of both women’s identity and oppression.

One of the most interesting aspects of the project is the way it has struck such a global chord. Rossetti originally wrote the text of the illustrations in Portuguese, and then worked with an Australian woman to translate them to English. A group of Israeli feminists also took it upon themselves to create versions of the illustrations in Hebrew. Now, more people have reached out to Rossetti through Facebook and offered to translate her work into even more languages. Next on the docket? Spanish, Russian, German and Lithuanian.

It’s an inspiring show of global solidarity, but the message of Rossetti’s art is clear in any language. Above all, her images celebrate being true to oneself, respecting others and questioning what society tells us is acceptable or beautiful.

"I can’t change the world by myself," Rossetti said. "But I’d love to know that my work made people review their privileges and be more open to understanding and respecting one another."”

From the site: All images courtesy Carol Rossetti and used with permission. You can find more illustrations, as well as more languages, on her Facebook page.

Blackthorn.

(Jules a la The Dark Artifices @ cassandraclare) 

January vs October 2014

My style has improved a lot! Drawings of my friend’s OC

My current WIP. Its some demon girl basically sitting on a mountain of skeletons. When I'm finished it will be done in ink washes and pen

Hello there

Just want to say that I'm still working on my art! But I can't get pictures of any of my new stuff right now so that's why I haven't been posting really anything recently ^^' I'll have new pictures for you soon though, I promise :)

I cant help but feel that in an artistic course (presumably full of people who pride themselves on artistic ability) theres a fair bit of competition/conflict. What has your experience been?

well, bluntly, i think you’ll find there’s competition in any discipline tbh, and any course is going to be filled with people who pride themselves on some specific ability, that’s just the nature of choosing an area of study. 

however, having said that, while there are definitely egos to be found in creative courses, for the most part i’ve found people very supportive and at least in my course, which is smaller than most (around twenty to each class) it’s p friendly and there’s more of a sense of community than friends of mine have found in academic, lecture-based courses. art by nature encourages discussion and collaborative work, so naturally you’re going to encounter both friendship and conflict, but unfortunately that’s life, hon.