The Gendered Resistance Lab (GRL) is a digital platform that serves as a living, evolving archive of over ten years of ongoing research.
Led by Professor Cathy McIlwaine (King’s College London), in collaboration with researchers, artists, facilitators, grassroots organisations, and community leaders.
What began as an academic study of gendered violence in Brazil and among Brazilian migrants in London has since developed into a broader, user-led body of work centred on women-led empathy, care, and connection.
Using rigorous social science research methods alongside storytelling, performance, and visual arts, this work highlights how women resist violence and build solidarity across borders. Creative approaches have become central—not only to research, but also as powerful tools for policy making, activism, and transformation.
The GRL presents the outcomes of this ongoing work, including data, artworks, testimonies, and reflections, serving as both a resource and a space for reflection and knowledge-building. It stands as a documentation to how research can bring together evidence, empathy, and creativity to support resistance and community across diverse backgrounds and experiences.
River of Life
The River of Life is a visual map that guides visitors through the many research and action projects developed over the years. Like a timeline, it traces the evolution of work highlighting key moments, collaborations, and outputs.
Explores how violence against women and girls is experienced across borders, focusing on Brazilian migrant women in Rio de Janeiro and London. Brings together research and creative practice to expose hidden forms of violence and amplify migrant women’s voices.
Examines the experiences of migrant women facing violence and structural barriers in London and focuses on raising awareness and strengthening support networks through research and collaborative creative outputs.
Documents how women in Rio de Janeiro resist violence through everyday practices, activism, and community organising. Focuses on lived experiences and creative expression to highlight dignity, agency, and collective struggle of women living in favelas.
Explores women’s experiences of violence and resistance in London through applied drama and performance. Creates space for collective reflection while making visible stories that often remain silenced.
Connects women’s experiences of gendered violence across Rio de Janeiro and London through participatory visual methods. Uses collaborative art processes and exhibitions to build transnational dialogue and shared strategies of resistance.
Brings together voices of women across Latin America and London to document diverse forms of resistance to violence. Shares stories through podcasts and publications to connect struggles and inspire collective action.
Engages diverse communities in London through arts-based and embodied research methods, exploring how creative practices can foster connection, expression, and new ways of understanding gender and resistance.
In collaboration with young women from Rio de Janeiro favelas and South Shields, it explores how feminist activism can be expressed through creative and arts-based participatory methods. It focuses on youth-led expression, amplifying their voices in local and global spaces.