Nov. 25 is the United Nations (UN) International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women and, as such, several awareness campaigns were launched on that day. One of the social media campaigns that circulated and is now a controversy is contemporary artist and activist AleXsandro Palombo's campaign in which he photoshopped cuts and bruises on the faces of female celebrities.
The first set of photos were uploaded in Palombo's social media accounts and depicts Miley Cyrus, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Emma Watson, Kristen Stewart and reality star sisters Kendall Jenner and Kim Kardashian West heavily bruised. Another set reimagine Disney princesses in the same manner and holding up photos of their princes stamped "COWARD" in big red letters. He also added the hashtags #ART #BREAKTHESILENCE and #StopDomesticAbuse.
"NO Women is Immune from domestic abuse... The biggest accomplice of violence is the silence... Each of us has do their part to help increase awareness and to change things by any means," he wrote along with statistics on the female victims of domestic violence.
Palombo's intentions are well and good since he wants to stop cruel domestic acts and help the victims of abuse; however, was his execution flawed?
Sisters Kim and Kendall already complained about his use of their images citing that their camp was not contacted in any way to seek permission. They clarified that they support Palombo's cause but they will still seek legal counsel to send the artist a warning for using their photos without consent. So far, none of the other female celebrities have voiced out their opinion about their images being used in the campaign.
Women's Agenda begged to differ and accused Palombo of using the images to fetishize rather than raise awareness. "This is not raising awareness of domestic violence. It's fetishizing it... This is not telling a story about women, or victims of domestic violence, this is telling a story about one man's salacious interest in battered women" Jane Gilmore wrote. She, of course, has a point too since the base images that the Italian artist used came from commercially available photos where the celebrities were clothed but the final product had them naked, though showing only up to the top part of their chests.
"This is an art contemporary series, so no need to have the consent of the celebrities," Palombo's spokeswoman, Vanessa Esteban said.
We can all argue about what kind of copyright and attribution the photos required and if consent was needed, however, there is a more pressing matter. Some of the women Palombo depicted were actual victims of domestic abuse and, while he had good intentions of trying to get others to speak of their own experience, he did not ask for permission from the victims if they wanted the memory of the abuse to be brought up in media when they have or still are healing from it. Case-in-point: Kim Kardashian who had "domestic abuse" written on her divorce papers from ex-husband Damon Thomas.
"It's unethical. It would have had more power had they consented because it would be sending a much more powerful message... I think there was a good motivation behind it, but domestic violence is also about control and power and if you're not seeking the consent of using the image that way, it's sending a bad message," Queensland University of Technology Professor Kerry Carrington, a researcher on domestic violence, said.
Palombo's cause had great potential because, like anti-bullying campaigns that target victims and witnesses who stay silent, his campaign reaches out to the silent victims of domestic abuse.
Now here's the question as Professor Carrington explained: domestic abuse is about control and power because the abusers do not ask for consent when they abuses the victims and come up with "logic" to justify their actions. What makes Palombo different now that he used images without consent and is justifying his action as an act of good will?
Yes, the message is powerful and it is unquestionable that Palombo raised awareness through his campaign but does that make things okay knowing that none of these celebrities were even aware that they are part of it? Now this campaign begins to crumble.
