Denouncing Gender Violence in Spain and Rewriting the Female Narrative

This paper analyzes how Spanish female artists across Spain denounce domestic violence by exposing abuse and the culture of women domination in public spaces. Gender violence is important to analyze because it is a current issue in Spain, and globally, as there is a fight for gender equality in countries around the world. Technically speaking, domestic violence includes physical, emotional, and sexual abuse occurring between partners or within a family (Dutton). Recently, many artists across Spain are looking to reconstruct a new narrative for women. This paper will look at how gender-based violence against women was practiced throughout the Spanish Civil War, and continued throughout the Franco regime, through various practices and penal codes (ADRIAN). Next, the research will look at how artists such as Raquel Riba Rossy and Sara Batuecas denounce gender violence through their works, like Riba Rossy’s cartoon character, Lola, and the “Tree of Women,” and Batuecas´s poster series of physical harassment (Street art madrid; Tolonen; Atienza). Finally, the paper will analyze how Carmela García is placing women in empowering scenarios as liberal professionals without demeaning the male (Maria Cristina Masaveu Peterson Fundación). This can be especially admired in the work “Memoria” (Maria Cristina Masaveu Peterson Fundación)