This Artist Drew 100 Portraits Of Our Favorite Feminist Heroes

by Erika W. Smith September 7, 2016

Erika W. Smith September 7, 2016

You may have seen Gillian Dreher’s drawings of feminist heroes around the interwebs this year. Dreher, an artist based in Oakland, California, pledged to draw a portrait of a badass lady every day for 100 days. Here’s what she tells us:

I started the #100DaysofBadassLadies project in April as part of Elle Luna’s #The100DayProject, during which participants do one thing every day for 100 days. I lost my mom to cancer late in 2015 and had been thinking a lot about how strong she was and how inspiring she was to me and to everyone who knew her. In thinking about her, I realized how much I look to all the strong ladies in my life as daily sources of strength and inspiration. I thought this project would be the perfect opportunity to highlight some of these ladies and to share their stories.

The best part of the project was having friends and followers reach out to me with their own lists of ladies that influenced their lives– this series is very personal to me and tells a bit of my story, and it’s so cool and eye-opening to hear about the different muses of friends from different backgrounds. I also wanted to participate in the project to improve my drawing skills and to make drawing a daily practice, which I definitely succeeded in– drawing is such a meditative process and it has really helped me deal with the issues I faced following my mother’s passing. I encourage everyone to participate in #The100DayProject next year! You’ll be amazed with where you end up.

When I finished the project, I decided to make prints of the ladies and to donate a portion of the profits to Girls Inc, a nonprofit that supports pro-female legislation and runs programs for girls. I hope that this allows the project to continue to inspire viewers and to help support a whole new generation of badass ladies.

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