An artist and activist by the name of Alexsandro Palombo has created a stir within Hollywood with his altered images of well known celebrities. Palombo has used famous faces including actress Emma Watson, Madonna and Miley Cyrus and has digitally altered them for his No Woman is Immune from Domestic Violence project.

The images show the celebrities looking like domestic violence victims, with black eyes and bruises. None of the women gave permission for their image to be used in this way.

Images include the line “Life can be a fairytale, if you break the silence” with the hashtag #stopviolenceagainstwomen.

Palombo said the aim of the project was to persuade victims of abuse to break the silence of their situation, as well as raising awareness that all women could be victims of abuse.

Now I don’t claim to be an expert in this area, but I fail to see how showing celebrities beaten up is going to help an abused woman come forward.

What would’ve been more useful is if in fact these celebrities had a domestic violence story to share.

In fact the only one who does is Kim Kardashian. When Kim was married to her first husband Damon Thomas, she says he was both verbally and physically abusive towards her. In fact she used those reasons in her divorce papers. According to the documents, Thomas punched her in the face, slammed her against walls and threw her across the room.

Kardashian alleged that Damon tried to keep her away from her family, and tried to convince her that her mother and sisters were evil. She said that his bullying behaviour extended to giving her thousands of dollars for liposuction because he wanted her to be ‘perfect’.

Sharing Kim’s story would help other women find the strength to come forward and report their abuser. Other victims who perhaps look up to someone like Kim, may see that even someone like her suffered at the hands of her partner. The fact that she is beautiful and rich does not protect her in any way. It’s important for other victims to see this. What they don’t need to see is photoshopped images of celebrities looking beat up. How does this possibly help a woman to come forward. You see, without a back story, all these images are saying is “see it happened to me but I didn’t speak up.”  Not particularly helpful in my opinion.

What do you think about this campaign? Is it a help or a hindrance?