On the 22nd of October 2020 the Constitutional Court of Poland published a decision which outlawed terminations of pregnancy caused by severe fetal defects. This ruling made abortion in Poland practically illegal, allowing terminations of pregnancy only in case of rape, incest or a threat to mother’s life. The decision caused massive protests spreading all over the country for a few months despite pandemic restrictions. After each protest hundreds of lightning bolt graffiti were left on the streets of Warsaw. The cityscape has become a space for expressing one’s opinion and marking one’s presence; pavements, streets, walls and windows have become full of lightning bolts, ”shining” both during the day and at night. These signs used by protestants marked the city’s physical space, clearly communicating what is happening in the social sphere. That way, even not during the protests, the city was exposing the events taking place almost every night, whose participants connected for the same reason and used the same visual language.
This series is a typology of lightning bolts, the symbol of Womens’ Strike movement and protests against abortion ban; the symbol of anger, disagreement and fight for womens’ rights.