Can you create empathy on the subject of domestic violence and femicide?

The Collectif de Recensement des Féminicides Conjugaux en France has been gathering information on femicide in France for more than 3 years. Day after day, they built an entire map of every women murdered by the ex or current partner in the country.

In order to tell this 151 women stories, I chose to focus on who they were, and not how they died. I illustrated through data visualization portraits the aspects of their life I could find online, through the Collectif data but also death certificates, facebook tributes, family testimonials and local press articles.

The result is an interactive piece Death At Home visualizing their stories and global statistics on femicide in France.

Through photography and handwriting elements, I designed their portraits to be easily relatable for anyone. The objective was to bring back the humanity aspect of this sensitive topic. Data doesn’t have to be quantitative. On the contrary, qualitative information enables intimacy between the woman behind each data point and the reader.