Street Heroines is an award-winning feature-length documentary celebrating the courage and creativity of women who despite their lack of recognition have been an integral part of the graffiti and street art movement since the beginning. Authentic vérité storytelling woven between an interview-driven narrative, Street Heroines juxtaposes the personal experiences of three emerging Latina artists from New York City, Mexico City, and São Paulo as they navigate a male-dominated subculture to establish artistic identities within chaotic urban landscapes.
Toofly, born in Ecuador and raised in Queens, NY, while inspired by the graffiti writers from the 80s and 90s New York City, never had any female peers that gave her confidence to reach the next level. Determined to use art to help others, her journey leads her to develop a unique friendship with the first female of graffiti, Lady Pink, and travel back to Ecuador to spread the movement. Fusca, a talented painter, moved to Mexico City inspired by its embrace of all things artistic. However making it as an artist becomes daunting and she is left to reanalyze why and for whom she makes art. In the concrete jungle of São Paulo, Brazil Magrela expresses her feelings on the complexities of being a woman through vibrant colors and radical imagery painted across city walls only to one day be confronted by the very authorities that make her feel unwanted in the public space.
Punctuated by historical anecdotes from pioneering artists Lady Pink, Claw Money, Nina Pandolfo, Swoon, Lady Aiko, iconic graffiti photographer Martha Cooper, and others, Street Heroines is the first-of-its-kind documentary to capture the collective outcry of female street artists from around the world, shining a light on their mission for creative expression and their endeavors to overcome sexism through art.
While numerous graffiti genre documentaries feature familiar names such as Banksy and Shepard Fairey, Street Heroines infiltrates this masculine space by legitimizing women’s voices within an unquestionably important movement that symbolizes far more than the sum of its parts. Now, in the wake of #MeToo and Time’s Up, which have had astounding repercussions for women’s justice, there is no time more relevant for a film that exposes the struggles of female artists worldwide and situates them within the global conversation.
A bastion of female empowerment, Street Heroines gives visibility to fearless artists who create their own opportunities in the name of women’s rights, gender and economic equality, increased accessibility to the arts, and the celebration of cultural identity.
Street Heroines is an overdue celebration of women who use art in the public space to generate change and empower others. Here is a growing list of international artists interviewed and / or documented thus far.
Please click on the names to see their work.
ABUSA CREW (Chile)
ALICE MIZRACHI (NYC)
BLN BIKE (Ecuador)
CLAW $$ (NYC)
DINA SO MINA (Brazil)
DANIELLE MASTRION (Brooklyn)
ELLE (NYC)
FEFE TALAVERA (Brazil)
FIO SILVA (Argentina)
FUSCA (Mexico)
GILF! AKA Ann Lewis (Brooklyn)
LADY AIKO (NYC)
LADY PINK (NYC)
LA CRESPA (Colombia)
LA JEFA (Colombia)
LEGS (Los Angeles)
LEXI BELLA (Brooklyn)
LILI CUCA (Colombia)
MAGRELA (Brazil)
MALICIA (Colombia)
MARTHA COOPER (Photographer NYC)
MISS 163 (The Bronx)
MOOS (Ecuador)
NINA PANDOLFO (Brazil)
NUBE (Puerto Rico)
PANMELA CASTRO aka ANARKIA (Brazil)
PAU (Chile)
RARONICA (Colombia)
SHIRO (Japan)
SISS (Brazil)
SWOON (Brooklyn)
TOOFLY (NYC / Ecuador)
TXAR (Spain)
TYSA (Mexico)
VANESSA ROSA (Brazil)
VERA PRIMAVERA (Ecuador)
VERO RIVERA (Puerto Rico)
ZEL (France)
We believe it's not just about the 'finished piece' but the journey that gets us there.
In 2013, the Street Heroines journey started out as a solo mission by Alexandra Henry to document female street artists through photography. This endeavor quickly evolved into a film project when she realized that women's experiences in the movement went beyond what their finished piece had to say. As she discovered more artists from around the world, the project took on a life of its own.
In 2016, after a successful Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, the Street Heroines production team grew and was able to travel to Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and NYC to finalize principal photography. Here is a behind-the-scenes look of that adventure.
