Safer Spaces (available now on Vimeo, coming soon to Amazon Prime) is a documentary from Bill Fulkerson about the life, projects and passion of Shawna Potter (check out our interview with Shawna).
Shawna is the vocalist for War on Women, a feminist punk band from Baltimore. WoW toured Australia for the first time last year as part of Download Festival.
Safer Spaces showcases how Shawna channels energy into two of her life’s passions, music and activism. We find out about the moments that made Shawna realise that women interested in music could actually play guitar and be in a band instead of having to be a Janet Jackson-style pop star. If you’re new to War on Women and Shawna’s vocals, you’ll get a great introduction through Safer Spaces through clips of live performances and music videos (some of our editor Bec’s photos from WoW’s Brisbane show made it in as well, so make sure to stay tuned for the credits).
We see Shawna not only through her own eyes, but also through stories from Brooks Harlan—guitarist and co-founder of War on Women. Brooks has played in several bands with Shawna throughout the years and is in the perfect position to give us insight into her musical, personal and activist sides.
Chris Wrenn from Bridge Nine Records tells us about hearing War on Women for for the first time, realising how unique the band is, and how they rate with the all time punk greats.
In addition to Shawna’s musical side, Safer Spaces gives us a glimpse of some of the activism work she’s done. She founded the Baltimore chapter of Hollaback!, an organisation dedicated to ending street harassment. Shawna wrote a pamphlet and a book, both called Making Spaces Safer, which give practical advice on making any public space harassment free for marginalised people.
Whether you’ve never heard of Shawna before this documentary or you’re a fan from way back, you’ll finish this documentary with a huge amount of respect for her musical and humanitarian accomplishments (and as a bonus, hear some excellent punk along the way). Well done to Bill for giving us an insightful and entertaining look into Shawna’s world.
