Mini Post: Panmela Castro

Emily Zuniga
Art and Women
Professor Caciolo

Panmela Castro

Panmela Castro is a Brazilian-born artist. She is a feminist, human rights activist, art collector, and a promoter of street art produced by women in Brazil. She's an artist whose main areas of interest are the female body in dialogue with the urban landscape and questions of otherness and binary gender. She also founded the Rede NAMI, a feminist organization that unites various artistic talents and that seeks to promote training and workshops with the aim of promoting the right of women, and, in essence, to end violence committed against women.Based in Rio de Janeiro, Castro uses her skills to create murals addressing the country’s problem with domestic violence, gender inequality and the mistreatment of women.

“We face different situations that we are conditioned to obey and that most of the time are oppressive and/or prejudiced,” she told The Huffington Post. “This is why we have to change what it means to be a woman in the world.”

 The Maria da Penha Law on Domestic Violence against Women, a law named after a woman who was so severely beaten by her husband that she was paralyzed for life, was enacted in Brazil in 2006. The law granted legal protection for women, giving them the tools they needed to combat violence against women. Panmela recognized this as an opportunity to combine to her love for graffiti and her passion for women’s rights.

 

First Street Green Art Park. 2016. New York. USA

Although she is based in Brazil, Castro has done street art around the world, using her work to teach others that art can make an impact. 

 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. 2013.

 Berlin, Germany. 2011.

 Linares, Spain. 2012.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/panmela-castro-graffiti-artist-brazil_us_563cf31be4b0307f2cad508fhttps://www.vitalvoices.org/vital-voices-women/featured-voices/panmela-castro

https://panmelacastro.carbonmade.com