Bed-Stuy Teen Speaks Out Against Domestic Violence Through Art

A local teen from Bed-Stuy recently was chosen as the winner of a domestic violence awareness contest that will award him his very own sneaker design!  

Max Desir, 17, a junior at Leadership and Public Service High School in Manhattan, won first prize for his entry, “Nobody Has the Right to Control You,” in the Sexual Assault Awareness Month poster contest sponsored by the New York City Department of Youth & Community Development (DYCD).  

Now the lucky teen will get the rare opportunity to design his own athletic shoe at Niketown. DYCD held the poster competition as part of a weeklong observance in April, Sexual Assault Awareness Month,  to educate communities and individuals on how to prevent sexual violence. 

“It is my hope that no woman will ever be silenced by abuse,” said Desir of his first-place win.  

Desir has been a member of DYCD’s El Puente Bushwick Leadership Center for four years and has been drawing since he was seven years old. He takes visual arts classes at El Puente, where he loves to draw murals, and he aspires to one day become an art teacher.  

Desir also is a powerful spoken word artist, using his writing and his voice to raise awareness on community issues.