Local artist captures global issue
A POWERFUL photography series by a local artist has made national and international headlines for its poignant stance against sexual violence and rape culture.
Coffs Harbour photographer Rory Banwell was interviewed on Channel 7's morning show Sunrise,on Thursday discussing her Still Not Asking For It project.
The project consists of a series of black and white photos consisting of couples, heterosexual and homosexual, children and single men and women with poignant messages such as 'marriage is not consent, and blame the rapists not the victims' written across their torsos.
An image of a woman called Ashlee with the words 'Still Not Asking For It' emblazoned her torso at SlutWalk, a protest against rape culture, in Chicago inspired the name and concept of Rory's project.
Rory's said the initial drive for the project originated from a comment made to her partner to get a gun at the news of their pregnancy with daughter Polly two years ago.
Rory told the Advocate the gravity of the statement triggered her to take a stand against sexual violence using photography, a medium she loves, as ammunition.
"We were just really shocked that was the reaction the fact that she (Polly) would need to be protected based purely on her gender," Rory said.
The project's Tumblr and Facebook pages have been viewed by millions worldwide with the Facebook page alone received more than 10 million views as well as 40,000 shares.
For Rory, the core of the project's purpose is to open up a dialogue to talk about sexual violence between all genders.
"We should all be fighting together, it's not a female-centric problem, it' not a male-centric problem," she said.
"Everyone has to say this is not okay and do something together."
Rory hopes the media coverage will encourage a diversity of people to contribute to the project to enable her goal of 100 photographs.
"I would love to have more people of colour, I would love to have people with diverse abilities, I would love to have different genders," she said.
