Italian artist Alexsandro Palombo has taken pictures of famous celebrities and given them a shocking new look.

Palombo has re-imagined glamorous shots of celebrities, including Kim Kardashian, Madonna, Miley Cyrus and Kendall Jenner, and edited them so the stars appear battered and bruised. The confronting photoshopping is a part of his campaign against domestic violence.

The images appear on his Facebook page alongside the caption, “no woman is immune from domestic violence” and hashtags including #StopViolenceAgainstWomen and #ArtForAGoodCause.

The line, “life can be a fairytale, if you break the silence,” is also featured above the headshots of the bruised celebrities.

Palombo told The Daily Mail UK that his goal was to encourage all victims of abuse to break their silence and remove the stigma attached to those who speak up.

“The biggest accomplice of violence is silence, a silence which every year kills or causes permanent disability more than diseases or accidents,” he said.

Palombo is well known for his artistic style of appropriating pop cultural icons in order to raise awareness for social issues. He also re-imagined popular cartoon wives as victims of abuse for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, whereby icons such as Marge Simpson, Snow White and Wilma Flintstone hold pictures of their husbands with the caption ‘coward’ stamped over their image.

However some controversy has arisen from Palombo’s use of celebrity images. According to TMZ, neither Kim nor Kendall were contacted for permission to use their images.

It’s alleged that while the sisters are supportive of the message the cause spreads, their attorneys are considering issuing a warning to the artist.

Kim Kardashian has previously spoken out about her abusive relationship with her first husband, Damon Thomas, who denies the allegations.

Vanessa Esteban, a spokeswoman for Palombo, told the ABC there was no need to seek the celebrities’ permission to alter their images.

“This is an art contemporary series, so no need to have the consent of the celebrities,” she said.

However Professor Kerry Carrington, a domestic violence researcher at the Queensland University of Technology, believes failing to ask for permission was unethical and could weaken the message of the images.

“I think there was a good motivation behind it, but domestic violence is about control and power, and if you’re not seeking the consent of using the image that way, it’s sending a bad message,” she told the ABC.

Carrington does praise Palombo’s campaign for the potential it has in connecting to a female audience. She believes that most campaigns use male celebrities to target potential abusers, whereas Palombo’s “targets women who are experiencing domestic violence but are too ashamed to come forward.”

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