This multi-media installation addresses the issue of violence against women in Mexico, a country with one of the highest femicide rates worldwide. Specifically, the work references Diana la Cazadora (Diana the Huntress), an anonymous woman who committed a string of killings in 2013 to avenge the unresolved murders of hundreds of women in Ciudad Juárez, a city on the Mexico-US border. Originally realized with support from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and Soma Summer Mexico, the installation includes a staged photograph, a three-meter-long hand-painted cape, and a collaborative performance centered around the projection of dozens of definitions of the term “femicide.” The photograph evokes the Mexican tradition of retablos or popular votive paintings. The dedication at the bottom of the composition reproduces a letter sent to the police by the unidentified avenger:
“You think that because we are women, we are weak, and that may be true but only up to a point, because even though we have nobody to defend us and we have to work long hours until late into the night to earn a living for our families we can no longer be silent in the face of these acts that enrage us. We were victims of sexual violence from bus drivers working the maquila night shifts here in Juárez, and although a lot of people know about the things we've suffered, nobody defends us nor does anything to protect us. That's why I am an instrument that will take revenge for many women. For we are seen as weak, but in reality, we are not. We are brave. And if we don't get respect, we will earn that respect with our own hands. We the women of Juárez are strong."
DEFINITION OF FEMICIDE BY 144 COLLABORATORS
PUBLIC INTERVENTION, MEXICO CITY 2014
PUBLIC INTERVENTION, MEXICO CITY 2014
PUBLIC INTERVENTION, MEXICO CITY 2014
PUBLIC INTERVENTION, MEXICO CITY 2014