Not only is our society grappling with heinous incidents of rape and violence, but we are also hardwired into shaming and blaming the victim in most cases.
A 21-year-old graphic designer, Shreya Arora, responded to this rampant practice of victim shaming by creating a series of posters modeled around magazine covers that talk about how, no matter what the victim wears, or how the victim acts, the blame is always on them.
She shared this satirical artwork titled “The Good Victim Starter Pack”, on her Instagram handle, in an attempt to talk about this practice in a way that is ‘relatable to more people’.
In conversation with ScoopWhoop, Shreya commented that she was inspired to create this artwork because of her experiences in France as an exchange student, where most students were scared to visit India because of the news they had heard.
Along with the frequent stories about rape and assault, there was also another pattern to be seen- one of influential figures criticising the victim, morally policing her…I realized how victim-blaming forms a large part of our narratives.With this series, I tried to create a satire on the fact that no matter how careful, conservative, or perfect a victim is, people always find a way to blame her more than the assailant.
This talented young woman is currently pursuing graphic design at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and she believes that ‘graphic design is a powerful tool for starting difficult conversations’.
Going forward, she wants to continue to do meaningful work that makes people think on a variety of topics, ‘gender inequality’ being one of them.
Recently she shared another image on her Instagram handle that deals with sexual objectification of women in pop culture.
Art has the power to make you think and change how you view things around you, Shreya and her art does that in the most brilliant way possible.
You can check out her artwork on Behance.