“The Bold Type” is expanding its NYC footprint to Brooklyn (gasp!) with an empowering mural that screams, “I am feminine; I am here; and I am loud.”
The series’ leading ladies — played by Aisha Dee, Katie Stevens and Meghann Fahy — once gagged at the thought of having to trek to Brooklyn. But now, an Instagram-worthy design inspired by the close-knit co-workers can be spotted in Williamsburg, at 10th Street and Wythe Avenue, through July 1.
The artwork was commissioned by the network in anticipation of the second season return Tuesday, keeping all things “bold” in mind.
“Be loud. Be heard. Don’t shrink. That’s a big aspect I was trying to go with,” artist Samantha Rothenberg, 32, says of the bright yellow mural she painted. The Williamsburg resident, who goes by Violet Claire, is also the artist behind last season’s promotional design that boasted the mantra, “I’m not a boss bitch. I’m a boss, bitch.”
This time around, the phrase “Don’t You Shush Me” is not to be missed in her mural that incorporates emoticons that young men and women are sure to find identifiable, fans of the Freeform series or not. A princess crown, pizza slice and diamond ring are among the more general-interest finds, while Easter eggs like purple macaroons and three pinkie locked hands are direct references to season one.
“The Bold Type” follows three young women — Jane, Kat and Sutton — journeying through the ups and downs of making it big at Scarlet magazine, a male-dominated media empire mirroring Cosmopolitan. Their golden rule: Be a “self-feminist,” someone who exists solely to meet their own high dreams and expectations, rather than ones imposed on them by society.
“What I love so much about the show is that it encourages women to succeed but it doesn’t tell them to not be feminine,” Rothenberg says. “In order to be taken seriously in the workplace, women often will think they have to tone down their femininity.”
Rothenberg, a full-time artist, was approached by “The Bold Type’s” social media team to design the mural after they spotted her graphic design-style memes on her professional Instagram page, @violetclair, which has just under 50,000 fans.
The series mirrors the vision behind her personal artwork, which includes an Instagram portfolio of sketches that compare NYC life to that of Los Angeles, California, and call-outs to female-focused media outlets that may still be calling for young women to follow trends and meet unrealistic expectations.
“I want to create artwork that attracts people and makes them look around and wonder what it’s about,” she explains. “I feel like anything that can cause people to stop in their tracks and question something, that’s the reason why I’m doing this.”
Residing just blocks from the mural, Rothenberg says she’s gotten to see passersby interact with her “Bold” artwork firsthand, by way of selfies, selfies, selfies.
She recalls: “One woman who took a photo of herself in front of the mural and posted it to Instagram, she wrote, ‘Standing in front of this mural made me roar.’ That’s exactly what I want people to feel when they look at it.”
The first season of “The Bold Type” saw the women take on issues as serious as immigration and gender inequality and as typical as dating qualms. The second season, premiering Tuesday at 8 p.m., will move forward with its theme of female empowerment while delving into topics like sexuality, body type and class privilege.
