Lori Pratico and Elizabeth Sanjuan are breaking barriers with Girl Noticed, a nationwide mural project aimed at spotlighting the role of females in today’s society.
On the whitewashed wall outside of Beachside Montessori Village in Hollywood is a mural of a young girl sitting cross-legged, looking down at a sign in her hands that reads, “I have great ideas that will make the world a better place.”
The image is of a real girl, Emma, who submitted a video to Girl Noticed, a growing art project that works to highlight the hidden strengths of girls and women everywhere. “She didn’t even speaking in her video; she had to write [her thoughts] down on 8-by-10 paper,” says Elizabeth Sanjuan, photographer at Girl Noticed.
Girl Noticed was born in October 2014 after Lori Pratico, the artist who created Emma’s mural, added a fundraiser that Sanjuan hosted for “Girl Rising,” a documentary about breaking the cycle of poverty for girls around the world. Pratico was inspired to build on it.
“If a girl was given an opportunity at a young age to be noticed, that could change her life,” Pratico says. “A lot of girls, unfortunately, never have that opportunity.”