Panmela Castro

I use the urban art as vehicle to promote a positive culture change in my community, working against the domestic violence and promoting the woman rights.

My country, Brazil, specially the communities in my city, Rio de Janeiro.

We women have won equal rights in our constitution in my country, but we not have this equal in our culture. My dream is that one day, this equality is achieved not only in my country but in all over the world.

Panmela Castro-Anarkia is a 28-year-old multi-media artist from Brazil who uses graffiti and street art to promote social change and awareness. Panmela Castro realize with Comcausa the project Grafiteiras Pela Lei Maria da Penha, a project that links graffiti and urban culture to combating violence against women. Through this project, Comcausa carried out a campaign to educate disadvantaged women about the recently passed Maria da Penha Law on Domestic and Family Violence against Women, a law named after a woman who was so severely beaten by her husband that she was paralyzed for life. To further this project, Panmela ventured into the slums of Rio de Janeiro to create murals that promote awareness about the existence of the Maria da Penha Law and to educate women about their rights under the new legislation. Unable to ignore or avoid the messages the murals portrayed about the importance of Maria da Penha and this law, Panmela uses her art to extend a lifeline to victims or witnesses that were previously too afraid to speak up. Maria da Penha herself has been featured in some of Panmela’s work. With the group that formed during the project, Panmela co-founded Artefeito, an organization that carries out social projects using art as an instrument of cultural transformation given continues to graffiti and woman’s rights projects. Panmela believes that she can make the world a better place by using graffiti to portray messages of positive social change. In addition to studying at the prestigious Federal University Art School in Rio de Janeiro, Panmela’s socially-conscious art has earned her a place as one of the most important figures in the Brazilian graffiti movement. She has also paved the way for women graffiti artists in Brazil through the Graffiteiras BR network. Today, Panmela travels throughout the Americas, Europe, and Africa to promote Graffiteiras BR’s mission and to share her vision through lectures, exhibits, and workshops hosted by the United Nations, the OSA Art Forum, the German Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, the La Familia Ayara and the Caramundo organization. She has received numerous awards and recognition including the Hutúz Award, The most important Hip Hop award in Latin America, Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards in humans right, and continues to be active through her participation in public events, workshops, and social projects.