Marta Frej's Feminist Memes Fuel Polish Protests

Polish artist Marta Frej (born 1973 in Częstochowa) creates viral feminist memes that have become symbols of ongoing protests against Poland's restrictive abortion law. Her Facebook page Marta Frej Memy has over 220,000 followers, and her Instagram exceeds 115,000. A drawing of a girl with a hand in Polish flag colors covering her face appeared on the cover of POLITYKA weekly and was later projected onto a building in Gdynia as an installation. The protests began on October 22, 2020, after the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw banned abortion even in cases of severe fetal malformation. Frej, a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, created her first meme in 2014. Her series 'I am responsible because...' was made in collaboration with Gazeta Wyborcza three years ago, with hundreds of women contributing. Another project, 'I am strong because...', started a year ago, addressed gender violence and misogynistic stereotypes, involving over 1,500 participants. Frej's work is compared to Barbara Kruger's feminist art and Italian Medialism theorized by Gabriele Perretta. She describes her feminism as practice-based rather than theoretical. Her meme 'A woman's place is wherever she wants!' is among the most shared on Facebook by Polish women.