AKIPRESS.COM - An Italian artist has created a campaign featuring the battered faces of high-profile women to highlight the issue of violence against women, BBC reports.

The posters, which can be seen in Milan, include doctored images of former US First Lady Michelle Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Violence against women does not distinguish between "race, class or religion", the posters say.

Artist AleXsandro Palombo says he wants a "real response from institutions".

Other leading women featured in the series, called Just Because I am a Woman, include US Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, ex-US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Sonia Gandhi, the head of India's main opposition party, as well as French first lady Brigitte Macron.