Two years ago, the second largest comics festival in Europe – the Angoulême International Comics Festival – nominated 30 men and zero women for their annual awards show. Sparked by this blatant discrimination, Kelly Sue DeConnick and Matt Fraction (from Milkfed Criminal Masterminds) were inspired to create the hashtag #VisibleWomen on Twitter as a means to spotlight women and non-binary artists in the field.
The hashtag has now become a bi-annual event on the platform taking place every February and August. It has also expanded over the year to include not only artists in Europe, but also writers, game developers, fan artists, and more from around the globe!
Those who want to participate in the hashtag are welcome to self-nominate by tweeting a short bio of themselves accompanied by images showcasing their work. The tweets are then signal boosted via retweets within the artists community, and Milkfed Criminal Masterminds even creates a spreadsheet every time free of charge to send to hiring professionals within the industry.
To find out more about the event and hashtag, check out their official website here, and don’t forget to check out the collection of talented #VisibleWomen on Twitter! Here are some of my personal favourites:
https://twitter.com/cakepaints/status/963591237432369152
Hello, I'm Siobhan (shuh-von)! I love to draw fashion, comics, and work on projects with my best friend! 💖✨ https://t.co/VAZMdDc3K8 ✨#VisibleWomen pic.twitter.com/WqydF3aqlU
— 🍰 Siobhan ✨ (@siobhanchiffon) February 12, 2018
Hey, I'm Jenny! I hope I can do this hashtag even though I paint mostly guys 😉 I'm an illustrator focusing on mythological and Fantasy art with an Art Nouveau/Golden Illustration slant. #VisibleWomen pic.twitter.com/Pjbjkkkc7O
— Jenny Dolfen Art (@JennyDolfen) February 14, 2018
I'm Kristina N. usually known as Haku. I write and draw a webcomic called “Fictional Skin”. When I’m not drawing, I’m a dog mom of my German Shepherd, Sousuke 🙂#VisibleWomen
Webtoons: https://t.co/jkg3lqjzDW
Tapas: https://t.co/yddwKM5poF
Instagram: https://t.co/nFtiUpdaKZ pic.twitter.com/HG91iArSwD— Kris Nguyen🔺Fanime 1511 (@hakuku) February 13, 2018
