You may have noticed your Twitter feed overflowing with colorful, imaginative drawings — and a lot of empowerment — on Monday.
As of 4 p.m. #VisibleWomen had been used more than 110,000 times to share the work of female and non-binary comic book artists.
Production company Milkfed Criminal Masterminds created the hashtag in 2016 to highlight the work of underrepresented artists after no women were nominated for awards at the Angouleme International Comics Festival.
The initiative has grown to the point that #VisibleWomen now occurs twice annually, in February and August. The tweets are usually signal boosted via Milkfed employees’ accounts, and artist information is added to a spreadsheet made available to industry hiring professionals, according to Kelly Sue DeConnick, a writer at Milkfed.
Annyston Pennington, an illustrator and editor based in Chicago, says the initiative is a great way to reconnect with the comic community, as being an independent artist can “sometimes feel isolating.”
“It’s a nice surprise … sometimes I forget about the hashtag until it shows up on my timeline, but it’s a reminder for people like me on the fringes of the creative industry that they’re part of a large community,” she said.
Some believe the initiative does more than just help build community, saying it provides much needed exposure for the work of marginalized groups in the industry.
“Latinx women especially don’t have a lot of representation in the artist and writer chairs with projects in comic industry. … #VisibleWomen helps grant them exposure,” said Pamela Nunez, a comic artist based in Chicago. “It’s neat to see artists from all over the world, their different styles and what they do through the hashtag.”
Here are a few of the Chicago-based tweets that caught our eye.
Twitter @thewordsmithm