Tarana Burke
ORIGINAL SERIES
She was
forgotten
Tarana Burke created the words that became a global movement. Then much of the world forgot who said them first.
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Tarana Burke founded the “me too.” movement in 2006 — more than a decade before #MeToo became a global hashtag.
Her work grew from decades of community organising and her work with survivors of sexual violence, particularly Black women and girls. “Me too” was conceived around empathy: a way for survivors to recognise that they were not alone and to find pathways towards healing.
Then, in 2017, #MeToo went viral.
Millions of people used the words. Celebrities became associated with the movement. Headlines travelled around the world.
And the Black woman who had begun that work years earlier was remarkably easy to overlook.
Tarana Burke did not create a hashtag.
She built a survivor movement before the world was watching.
THE DESTRUCTION
Me Too Who?
About the Work
2026
Acrylic on canvas
I deliberately covered Tarana’s face with a red card reading “pulling the race card” — using an accusation about race to physically erase a Black woman from her own portrait.
Across her forehead I wrote “ME TOO WHO?” Most people recognise Me Too. Far fewer recognise the woman who founded it. Other words used to diminish her and her work are traced around what remains visible of her face.
The original was one of my favourite portraits, which made covering it incredibly difficult. But that discomfort was important. In order to understand the work, I had to make Tarana harder to see.