Artist Uses Queen Leticia To Highlight Domestic Abuse
An Italian artist has used doctored images of Kate Middleton and Spain’s Queen Letizia to make it look as if they are victims of domestic violence as part of a campaign to highlight the issue.
The posters were created by Italian artist Alexsandro Palombo, who has launched a campaign to raise awareness of a global problem that kills thousands of women around the world every year.
The posters for the ‘She reported him, but she was killed anyway’ campaign were unveiled for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which was celebrated yesterday, 25th November.
Speaking about the campaign, he said he wanted to see more resources and information to aid in the detection and prevention of gender violence.
He said: “I only see a policy that invites women to report but without taking responsibility for giving them all protection and support. A state that does not protect and leaves women alone in the hands of their tormentor becomes a silent accomplice.
“There are many associations of volunteers who with few means try to support the victims, but it should be the institutions, politics and the state to take on this responsibility.”
The pictures were put on display at bus stations and buildings over Europe to highlight the problem of domestic violence.
In addition to Kate Middleton and Queen Letizia of Spain, they also include others like US Vice President Kamala Harris and French politician Christine Lagarde.
The artist has previously made similar posters, which last time round included former US First Lady Michelle Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
It was entitled the ‘Just because I am a woman’ campaign and also included US Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, ex-US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, then Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and Sonia Gandhi, the head of India’s main opposition party, as well as French First Lady Brigitte Macron.
On that occasion, the posters noted that violence against women does not distinguish between “race, class or religion”.
He also did the same thing using celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, Emma Roberts, Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna, Miley Cyrus and Kristen Stewart.
However, the project has caused criticism, in particular because many people believed that the women themselves were involved in the initiative, when they were not.
Some, like the half-sisters Kim and Kendall, even contacted lawyers saying that while they supported the initiative, they wanted to tackle the issue on their own terms.
According to the Spanish government´s Ministry of Equality there were 46 murders of women by their partners in Spain in 2020 and 37 so far in 2021.
