It Never Ends: The Everlasting Battle on Fighting for Female Equality Favorite 

El Rey de la Ruina, aka The King of Ruin, is a local artist based in Madrid, Spain, who creates artistic activist pieces that range from the impact Covid-19 had on the social life of people in Spain, to the impact gentrification has taken on various groups of people. He tends to utilize (at least in his more recent pieces) bright colors and fun, geometric shapes in his art. A piece that piqued my interest was one of what seems to be a woman dressed in gear similar to that of spartan gear, resembling spartan facial characteristics, and with the phrase “ALL WOMEN UNITE” illustrated right next to her. To continue, her posture is formatted in a way where she looks confident and powerful as she is looking proudly up, appearing to be ready for anything that is thrown her way. Lastly, something that I found both interesting and admirable, is that The King of Ruin posted this on his Instagram on March 8th of 2018. For those that are not aware, March 8th is International Women’s Day, which celebrates the social, economic, political, and cultural achievements of women in a global society that is historically known to be patriarchal. Lastly, something that I found both interesting and admirable, is that The King of Ruin posted this on his Instagram on March 8th of 2018. For those that are not aware, March 8th is International Women’s Day, which celebrates the social, economic, political, and cultural achievements of women in a global society that is historically known to be patriarchal. For context, women’s rights in Francoist Spain (Francoist Spain being the era in which Francisco Franco ruled Spain between 1939-1975) saw various legal limitations on Women. These limitations included things such as restricted opportunities for professional careers, prohibited contraception and abortion for some time, prohibited divorce, but honored them as wives, prostitutes under certain circumstances, and made them dependent to their husbands. After Franco’s regime, reforms slowly began to make their way into society despite the everlasting inequality. Globalization after the nineties empowered women in Spain as it offered many employment opportunities that were prohibited during Franco’s era. As the years continued, so did the reforms. Nevertheless, some inequality is still seen today, and in any case, feminism and advocation for women’s rights is still widely seen throughout the streets of Spain more than ever before. Both protests and celebrations are commonly seen in the streets. Though feminism has its own history here in Spain that makes it more valuable to locals, this new wave of feminism that is occurring is global – it can be seen in almost any and every country. Shifting focus back to the piece, something to keep in mind is that artistic activism has political ambitions and thinks about affecting power and doesn’t necessarily need to be recognized as art since it’s not so much about self-expression. This art piece executes artistic activism very well.