|
In Between (2018)
This project is divided in two parts: 1. Video installation In between, and 2. Photographic series: 'Life around poison' 'In Between' explores women’s struggles in the Bolivian Amazon forest. They are constantly facing the oppression of two powerful structures: the family and the land market. Discourses that assume ‘the family’ as the natural core of the ‘indigenous communities’ pushed most of these women into early marriages. Very soon in life they had many children to take care of and very little income. The majority of these women came from impoverished communities in the highlands where land is scarce and arid. Getting used to a completely different environment in order to find a proper land continues to be, for these women, an endless battle. This project reunited the lives and experiences of 40 women and their struggles for a better future. I produce a photographic series, which was exhibited in the main square of the area and other key public places. This action allowed an open discussion and recognition of women labor and contribution to their communities. For the final day, I collected the portraits and display them in between the large scale agriculture frontier and the Amazon forest. An extended version of this video installation was presented at Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image's cinema. -- video excerpt --
'Life around poison' is a photographic project about indigenous women that work and live surrounded by Glyphosate. Glyphosate, commonly called as “poison” by the locals, is everywhere and it is used with little precautions. In fact many empty containers are reused to collect water. There is not accessible information that can help the indigenous women to prevent diseases or improve their working conditions on the fields during the sowing season.
In this context, “poison” works as double metaphor: as a patriarchal ideology which subjugate their lives and as a chemical threat. My purpose is bringing to life the long-term effect of trauma, and most importantly show how these women have built communities to support their families in the absence of social and emotional support in a toxic environment. Most documentaries about these issues are told from a male perspective, I want to challenge that view and introduce the female experience. |
|
Fri, 30 November 2018
18:00 – 20:00 GMT
Birkbeck Cinema
18:00 – 20:00 GMT
Birkbeck Cinema