In this interview I’m going to be giving you an insight to the “I’m Tired” project, run and organized by Harriet Evans and Paula Akpan. What started out as a rant from the humble beginnings of their kitchen, it has received worldwide recognition with the likes of the esteemed New York Times and Buzzfeed. It’s a photographic project that allows people to creatively and anonymously share the microaggressions they face in everyday life.
I am fortunate enough to have shared the company of one of the co- founders of the project, Harriet, as tells us about her role within the project and how you can get involved.
Name: Harriet Evans
Course: I graduated in the year 2015 and I did a Politics degree
How did the “I’m Tired” project come into existence?
Coincidentally, I actually met Paula through Her Campus! We both finished our final exams on the same day and decided we wanted to do something memorable with our last two weeks. Paula had been throwing ideas around, such as the “Free the Nipple” campaign. However, ironically, despite the aims of the campaign it was too controversial to start up. You can understand the reluctance of some girls to participate as they were worried about what their future employers might find with a quick Google search.
Then the idea came to us- what about using somebody’s back as a canvas since this now makes identities anonymous. We were just chatting, from the humble beginnings of our kitchen, about what irritated us and the phrase “I’m tired of…” came to fruition. The anonymity really helped to protect the volunteers, especially those from ethnic and religious backgrounds who worry most about the backlash they might receive.
What exactly is painted on the models?
It’s entirely up to model to choose what personally aggravates them the most but the phrase always starts with “I’m tired of…”. It usually has something to do with the society that they grew up with and any pressures/ abuses they face.
What were your earlier shoots like?
We posted details of our very first event on Facebook and we used my friend’s camera in Paula’s kitchen. 25 people showed up on the on the first day of shooting and we uploaded pictures from that day’s success. To our great surprise we found out that our photoshoot received 500 likes and we were so happy. I can remember following a Facebook page titled “Women You Should know” and I messaged them to ask if they could share our pictures. We got an email back saying they wanted to get in touch and after they shared our pictured we received thousands of more likes.
That’s amazing! How did you progress from there?
Last year we did an exhibition in New York. One of the women who were modelling was still very unsure about whether she wanted to pose for the project. She was really nervous and to help calm herself she arrived early to the shoot. Whilst plucking up the courage for the shoot she was reading a poetry book in her car and eerily the first poem she came across was titled none other than “I’m tired”… I think this helped persuade her (!)
The exhibition brought the attention of the New York Times and they ended up interviewing us.
Wow, I bet you never get tired thinking about that!
It’s crazy. Paula and I had a freak out for a couple of hours. The success of our project still hasn’t really hit us. It feels like a different person has created the project, not me, Harriet. It’s so surreal. It was such a happy moment. When you realise that there are people behind the company, like the NY Times, it really humanises the whole situation. They are a person just like me, less like a brand and more personal. The article focused on the project itself and not the creators so much which made it easy to differentiate ourselves from it. Which is really useful because I get really shy telling people about the project, not many people know about it as it’s not something I advertise.
Have you come across any difficulties with running the project?
Thankfully, we haven’t come across any real problems. However, one of the main challenges we face is the fact that who we are means that people don’t take us seriously. Unfortunately, sometimes our age and gender dictate how seriously people view us as business partners. But this has helped us become ruthless and even more passionate about our cause. What’s really sad is the sole fact that we are women prompts people to take advantage of us and take credit for our work. They forget that it was our hard graft that made the project successful. We were putting in a solid work shift of 3pm to 2am each day.
Also, people don’t tend to have an open mind, they only come to the page to disagree and leave negative comments- it can get really exhausting. We do have to take time out from it and we both have gone through stages where we physically can’t look at the screen.
That really does seem like it could take a negative toll on you, what motivates you to push through it all and keep going?
Me and Paula have different motivations but the main driving message is that women collectively can give such a strong message and we just need to push through the barriers society creates to deliver it. The personal reason as to why I wanted to deliver the project talk at uni is that in the day of social media it’s incredibly easy to get sucked into a life that isn’t real. It really does highlight everyone’s success and how glamorous their lifestyles are, and can get very daunting and scary at times by constantly reinforcing this negative thinking of ‘I’m not good enough’. But what I want to stress is that our project started from very humble beginnings, our kitchen, which literally is not glamorous at all and now we get to travel the world. If you have an idea just go for it. If you’re willing to put in the graft go for it. Don’t be put off by other people’s successes, remember, to be successful you have to start somewhere.
Wiser words have never been said. Can you tell me about any future projects that you are thinking about?
I’m excited to announce that our main upcoming project is the Black Blossom tour which commences on the 30th of April and It’s all about empowering black women.
Does your innovation for this project reflect any potential career goals?
This is something that I can’t imagine not doing. We’re both so passionate about the project. As Sociology and Politics graduates activism is a big part of who we are. We want the “I’m Tired” project to become a brand. We have held recruitment sessions with multiple businesses and the take- away from our meetings is that they are becoming more active in recruiting ethnic minorities and women in their labour demographic. There are projects like ours that do workshops and take them into schools and business in New York and UK to educate young minds. If we can get this into a business plan and get some money into it we would love that. At this point in my life I can’t say what I want to do next year, let alone in ten. I left uni with a distinct idea as to what my life was going to be and the October after I graduated I had a huge ‘no’ moment. I was not happy with the life I wanted and decided to take Year of Yes- yes to things that I want and no to things I don’t. Yes, I can see myself doing the project forever and yeah I would love for it to become a business.
Truly an inspiring story from none other than 2 of our University’s graduates. Through their “I’m tired” project they continue to help highlight the inequalities and societal pressures that women from all backgrounds and ethnicities face on a daily basis. I wish you the best of luck for future projects and hope that the trend of upwards success continues.
Make sure to check out the “I’m Tired” project at:
Facebook: The “I’M TIRED” Project
Email: theimtiredproject@gmail.com
Twitter: @theimtiredproject
Instagram: @theIMtiredproject
Edited by Nicole Swain
Photo Provided by Harriet Evans