Being alone in a public space at night can be terrifying. In fact, 26% of women and gender minorities give up on going out alone at night (source ONDRP 2018).

HandsAway, a charity that fights against sexual assaults in the public space decided to act on this social issue.

In order to make streets safer after dark, we used existing digital billboards as light sources, from 9pm to 7am.

The strategy was simple. Light up the darkest and dodgiest streets in order to avoid any sexual assault or harassment against women or gender minorities.

The execution couldn’t be simpler: we displayed bright white images, that powerfully lit up the darkest and scariest areas outside Paris.

The response to the operation was amazing, and the idea truly travelled the world, with hundreds of reactions across many countries. But most importantly, there were zero assaults reported during the time of the operation!