Welcome to Part One of our May, 2025 Inspirational Interview with Eliza Hatch.
Eliza Hatch is a photographer, speaker, curator, digital creator, and the founder of Cheer Up Luv. Eliza founded Cheer Up Luv 8 years ago as a photo series retelling women and gender-diverse people’s experiences of public sexual harassment. Cheer Up Luv has evolved into a globally renowned educational platform and community combining art with journalism, activism, social media, and a podcast that facilitates discussions around feminism, misogyny, and everyday sexism. Eliza has worked with the United Nations and has been featured on the BBC and Channel 5 News discussing women’s safety and sexual harassment.
Part 2 of Eliza’s interview will be published 5 May, 2025.
All pictures courtesy of Eliza Hatch.
1. How and why did you join the movement to end violence against women (VAW)?
In many ways, my journey into activism and advocating for the rights of women and people of marginalised genders sort of happened by accident. When I started my photo series turned platform Cheer Up Luv in 2017, I never intended to find such an amazing community, gain such international solidarity amongst survivors, raise awareness about sexual harassment on such a scale or even learn as much as I have about gender equality and feminist issues.
I have spoken openly about this in the past, but I didn’t have a traditional entry point into feminism or learning about gender issues. I barely understood what feminism was until I went to university, and didn’t have the language or wider contextual understanding to put the pieces into place when I first started experiencing sexual harassment or assault. I very much learned on the job, predominantly by using art for activism and photography as a means of expression when I felt voiceless.
2. Your feminist advocacy work includes being a photographer, activist, speaker, creator, curator, podcast host and the founder of Cheer Up Luv , a platform dedicated to retelling the stories of survivors, empowering their narratives and advocating for the rights of women and marginalised genders. How has your diverse portfolio of work informed and influenced your approach to fighting VAW?
There have been many exciting milestones in my career coupled with moments of imposter syndrome. As well as photography, I have experimented with various forms of media and visual communication to raise awareness about the issues I care about in order to reach more people. I have photographed and retold the stories of 200+ women and people of marginalised genders and exhibited my work in the USA, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Poland.
I aim to treat every project I work on as a unique experience and opportunity to reach new audiences and try something new. It’s how I stay engaged and passionate about a topic which is inherently quite heavy at times. Using creativity as my tool for communication has been key to the longevity of the project and sustained passion, and key to my fight against ending sexual harassment and all forms of gender-based violence.
3. You founded Cheer Up Luv on Instagram in 2017 and it now has over 169,000 supporters. Why did you create Cheer Up Luv as a photo series and platform for raising awareness about street harassment in the lives of women and girls in the UK?
The catalyst was a form of everyday harassment and something I had experienced multiple times in different forms. A man walked past me in 2016 and told me to “cheer up”, which led to me to question the normality of harassment for the first time.
After I had the experience, I recounted it to a group of my friends, and while my female friends agreed with my frustration and swapped stories of their own, my male friends dismissed it as a “compliment.” I felt moved to not only prove them wrong, but raise awareness about the normalisation of street harassment, at a time when there was a huge lack of understanding of that issue.
This incident inspired me to start taking portraits of my friends in public places, standing in the place they were harassed and start posting the photos online. With each location reflecting the testimony of harassment, I wanted to empower survivors by turning a negative memory into something positive, and most importantly, taking back control of the experience and reclaiming the space.
4. What are the challenges that photographers face when they work on projects which are focused on documenting and shining a light on street harassment (or indeed, any other type of VAW)?
There are many challenges that photographers face who are working in this particular field. I have experienced many obstacles over the past 8 years of running the platform and project, including: physical harassment while on Cheer Up Luv shoots; stalking and trolling; men’s rights activists turning up to my talks; and having to continually advocate for the rights of women and people of marginalised genders and push against a fresh wave of backlash to MeToo and the feminist movement online.
Yet with every backlash or belittlement, I am even more motivated to continue the fight for ending gender- based violence. I navigate these challenges by taking strength from my community and the strong sense of solidarity and support that has been cultivated on the platform.
5. What advice would you give to photographers in other countries who are keen to use their photography to raise awareness about street harassment which many cultures and communities still regard as a non-issue even though nearly every woman and girl has experienced it at least once in their lives?
When I felt voiceless and unsure of how to communicate my frustration, I decided the only way I could find my voice was to problem solve through art, and initially I used the medium of photography to channel my frustrations about the gender divide. Tackling topics like gender-based violence through photography can be emotionally draining, frustrating and very heavy at times, so I would advise creating structure for yourself within a project and finding balance with your craft and personal life.
These days, as well as using photography, I am constantly looking for new creative ways to propel the issues I care about into the mainstream and find ways of making people pay attention to gender- based violence. The advice I would give anyone who is starting out in this field is to keep finding ways to keep yourself interested and engaged in heavy topics. Lean into your creativity and passion, and use your art and storytelling to communicate the issue.
