2019 Winners & Shortlists

Cultural/Context information for the jury.

The Lebanese society is deeply rooted in patriarchy to the point of shaming and blaming women who are victims of rape. People criticize the way the victim dresses, the way she looks, her actions, etc… Victims of rape are accused of being at fault and called names. A very common Lebanese word used when “accusing” a rape victim is Feltene “??????” which means someone who is morally loose. Victim blaming is the main reason women do not report rape cases in Lebanon fearing scandal and stigma.

Write a short summary of what happens in the ambient or digital execution or campaign.

To expose the Lebanese patriarchy we conducted a social experiment in the popular streets of the capital to show how people reacted to the cries of a rape victim. After revealing our social experiment online and sparking local and international outrage, more women were encouraged to come forward. The survivors described their rapists in details, and we collaborated with female graffiti artists to turn these descriptions into immersive graffiti/outdoor installations of the rapists’ facial composites, and publically exposed and shamed them in Beirut’s streets. We turned real stories into interactive installations, using simple yet powerful black and white design along with our main campaign message #ShameOnWho, and placed them in prime locations around the city. Through motion detector VO technology placed under each graffiti, pedestrians were compelled to stop by and listen to the survivors’ stories, judging for the first time, the rapist not the victim.