Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has graced the cover of a magazine to raise awareness of the domestic violence epidemic in the country.
However, the artwork for InStyle Australia’s July issue took several attempts to finalise due to the number of women allegedly killed by gender-based violence this year.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday, the InStyle page explained that the statistic “quickly became inaccurate” each time the cover was close to completion.
“The number of Australian women murdered by 2024 in an epidemic of gender-based violence is set to increase,” she said.
“Today, the figure is 49 women in 190 days. Tomorrow, that figure could be different.”
Thousands of Australians joined a nationwide protest in April to demand that the Albanian government do more to protect women from gender-based violence following months of horrific attacks.
Reflecting on the demonstration, InStyle wrote: ‘We march and pressure our government to take urgent measures against gender violence.
‘Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared it a national crisis and promised nearly $1 billion in practical measures to stop the scourge. And then, silence.
The artwork created by Grace Tame for InStyle Australia’s July cover (pictured) featured a domestic violence death toll that had to be edited several times to keep up with the growing number of alleged victims.
Ms Tame (pictured), known as a former Australian of the Year and activist, reflected on her own experience with domestic violence and called on the government to invest in better solutions.
InStyle editor-in-chief Justin Cullen said male violence was affecting Australian women more than any other issue, which was reflected in the cover design process.
“When Grace made her first sketch, the number of dead women was 43. Three weeks later, when she sent us the final piece (or so we thought), it had increased to 47. That was two days ago,” she wrote on Instagram.
‘The next morning I had to ask him to change the illustration number to 48, after a woman’s body was found dumped in a rubbish bin in Victoria.
‘Grace provided a nine while she was at it, in case something happened in the 24 hours before posting.
“What a thing to have to get ahead of yourself!
‘Then yesterday afternoon, a 49th woman was confirmed dead, allegedly stabbed in her home in New South Wales by a man she knew.
‘It would have been the 50th if a woman had not escaped the intentionally set fire to her home on Sunday, where three of her children became the seventh, eighth and ninth children killed in (alleged) domestic violence incidents this year alone.’
Ms Tame shared her own statement about the creation of the cover, which showed hands holding a heart with the 2024 death toll from alleged domestic violence pinned to it.
“Part of the problem is that unless we’ve seen it up close, we easily ignore violence because it’s too confrontational,” he wrote.
“The fact that the death toll has increased by six since I started this project on June 13th says a lot.”
Ms Tame also shared her own experiences with domestic violence and called out people who consider it a “social problem that affects certain individuals or groups”.
“Incidents rarely occur in a vacuum; they are usually part of a broader pattern of abuse, enabled by a culture of normalised violence,” she said.
‘We have fallen into the pernicious illusion that we can cure ourselves primarily through preventive education and debate.
‘…Idealistic notions of respectful relationships miss the main point, although they are important.
“…We need a comprehensive set of solutions that engage all industries and demographics.
“This is a public health crisis.”
The July cover received supportive comments from dozens of readers who applauded InStyle for keeping domestic violence awareness front and center.
“It’s powerful and deeply moving. It’s simply inexcusable that citizens are keeping this epidemic in the spotlight, and not the government, which has broken its promise. Once again. Grace is extraordinary with her art,” wrote one.
“Amazing piece of art. Important topic. It’s hard not to feel hopeless in the face of it all,” said another.
Another wrote: “49 is 49 too many. I wish we could stop that number immediately.”
Another commented: “This is amazing work. Having survived intimate partner and family violence myself, I am relieved to see this issue finally being given attention.”
InStyle also reflected on how government action to help survivors of gender-based violence had seemingly quieted since the news cycle moved on from the April demonstration.
The cover comes months after thousands of Australians marched in a nationwide protest demanding more action to protect women from gender-based violence.
“Ten weeks after those nationwide protests, eighteen more lives have been tragically lost; four women were murdered in 48 hours during the first weekend in June; three women were murdered in three days last week; their unjust deaths buried deep in newspapers and feeds,” she says.
‘A fatal stabbing yesterday; a suspected domestic homicide on Saturday.
“…Violence against women is not a passing crisis, it is an epidemic.”
