All Wom*n's Art Tour: Exploring and Discussing Women in Public Space

This walking tour is designed for all women. It attempts to insert women's narratives into public space, examine if street art is egalitarian in terms of gender, and analyse the particular representations of women in public space and if these representations transgress social discourses on femininity.

Tour Rules:
-Ideally, all participants would include non-men, though feminist discussion is open to any other persons who wish to participate
-All participants must should in discussion at each stop regarding how gender has impacted their access to/behaviour within public space
-The voices of people of colour must be respected and listened to on this tour, their experiences and narratives must not be invalidated
-All participants should be respectful of the anecdotes, emotions and opinions of other participants, especially during discussion
-There is a high value put on the ability to listen
-The walking tour should be considered like a mobile safe-space for women, as such discussions about abuse should be forwarned, and bullying at any level will not be tolerated.

University of Melbourne Wom*n's Room

An important part of this walking tour is for the voices and narratives of women in art to be heard. For the tour to be successful and for the voices of women to resonate loudly it is important for the participants to be mostly women. The tour also…

Unsafe Women

Due to the practice of street art and graffiti having a history of being criminally sanctioned, and being associated with urban crime and youth deviance, its practice is often strongly associated with danger, or perhaps more fitting…

Woman's Beauty, Part 1

The image of the white female body is so historically iconic in art. Akos Artila Juhasz’s mural outside Biba (a hair salon) in Brunswick captures this well. His mural is reminiscent of the gold infused paintings of Gustav Klimt. It is interesting…

Woman's Beauty, Part 2

To provide a contrast it is also helpful to consider themes within the pieces of Cherie Buttonss. Cherie Buttonss is an Australian, female artists, who uses hyper-feminine, pop and pastel imagery within her art. The female characters represented are…

Woman's Beauty, Part 3

Finally, the last sticker "great comment asshole" is a humorous though political reaction to cat calling. Cat calling can be considered a form of micro-aggression, where the presence of women in public space is disciplined through verbally…

Critiquing Women

This stop is important to highlight how even feminist theory there is divergence over the best ways to combat gendered hierarchies. On the one hand liberalists may choose to reclaim sexuality in order to achieve empowerment, or access to what women…

Socialising Women

This stop focuses on the alternative form of female relationships. That is strong, beneficial female friendships. Be Free and Erin Greer are both Melbourne-based, female artists who create whimsical, quirky artistic representations. Both women's art…