CORPUS CHRISTI, Sevilla, Spain 2011
lunes, 20 de junio de 2011
jueves, 2 de junio de 2011
“Something worse than being born poor India, is born a woman,” states Sampat Pal Devi, a 50 year old woman from one of the lowest castes of Indian society.
In India, to even bear a girl is still perceived as a bad thing: “she will be one more mouth to feed, she will leave the house to live in her mother-in-law’s house, and who will need to pay for her wedding preparations.” The consequences are dramatic: 80% of women over 25 years old are illiterate, and 65% have married before their 18th year birthday. Around 5000 married women are assassinated annually because they have an insufficient dowry. Also, there are a large amount of women who are randomly expelled from their houses, often without reason.
Sampat Pal Devi took these alarming statistics and her personal experience and developed a radical response that is changing women’s role in India for the better. In 2006 started a rebellion in the northern Uttar Pradesh region of Indian against the “destiny” of Indian woman. She formed Gulabi Gang, or Pink Gang, a group of radical women adorning pink saris with passion who are demanding respect for their rights and who strike, scream and hit (if they need to) because as a united front, they believe they can force great change in Indian society. And they are.
These women are literally fighting for their lives while simultaneously fortifying them. Gulabi Gang is a community-based response towards transformative justice. Firstly, the men are confronted and spoken to about their wrong-doings with the victim is offered support. If their reaction is nothing short of apologetic and enthusiastic towards active transformation, a public shaming and beating take place.
Although numerous laws in favor of women exist, very few are abided by. The radical women of Gulabi Gang do not hesitate to fight for their belief regardless of the consequences. Because of this determination, they have made great strides by putting violent husbands in jail, ensuring that the region’s imprisoned women are fed and treated humanely, and expanding public awareness of police corruption and patriarchal abuse.
Sampat Par Devi tests the concept of freedom of expression through her leadership of a sisterhood of radicalized former-servants who are now committed to serving justice and autonomy.
Abusers create isolation in order to maintain control, but the Gulabi Gang has grown to over 20,000 women band together with the common goal of liberation for all women. The Gulabi Gang understands that the collective is only as strong as the individuals that make it up. In order to build strong communities, women are encouraged and supported to fulfill their full potential as independent individuals with a shared vision.
I believe that as outsiders, we don’t have the right to harshly judge the actions of others, specifically those of women in the 2/3rds world (a term I like to use as a more accurate global socioeconomic distinction). These women know intimately their own oppression and hence, can and must define what form their liberation is taking. However, it is crucial for us to listen to their stories, document their struggle as an act of solidarity, learn from their successes, and be inspired by their advances. The women of the Gulabi Gang hold rage that is dignified, and that is the power that I wish to express through my photojournalism, should I be blessed with the granting of this award.
Another organization of immense interest to me is the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, a non-governmental development organization committed to the process of transforming the poorest and most needy areas of Andhra Pradesh in southeast India. Their approach to fighting injustice is similarly based on a philosophy of action. Its team works from both Spain and India to improve the living conditions of some of the most discriminated communities within the Hindu caste system: the Dalits or untouchables, the tribal groups and the backward castes.
The focus of my work would be on the Foundation’s women's development program which started in 1982 to gain recognition for women in all realms of society recognized by ensuring women access to vocational and professional training, creating employment opportunities to reduce their dependence on men, and ending mistreatment, sexual harassment and abuse.
The reality in India, as with most of the world, is one of strong gender oppression. The Foundation is working towards educating women through self-activity to be active agents of personal and social change. By providing skill trainings and opportunities for independence, women can flourish out of the cracks of a heavily stratified society of gender and caste-based violence. I have witness the effects of such empowerment during my work teaching photography to indigenous women in Costa Rica who fell in the love with their ability to create captivating images, and consequently, felt their sense of self-worth and agency enhance.
I feel that we are constantly bombarded with negative imagery adapted to manipulate the observer with empathy, but in my work I choose to focus on the brilliantly bold and beautiful, rather than the heart wrenchingly sad and negative. As fighting women we must define what we stand for not just what we are against.
From my perspective, the way to challenge systems of violent control is to outgrow rather than overthrow. This process entails, amongst other things, a tremendous thrust of education and communication among all peoples. I hold two complimentary degrees in Photography and Science of Communication. While learning from these forward-thinking and strong-acting women, I hope to communicate their struggles as empowering and effective approaches towards positive transformation. The impact of imagery can increase cultural and political awareness, display the strength of those working on principles of respect and cooperation, and ignite ideas to push forth in action. Photojournalism is a profound tool of social change and can be used as a weapon against those who seek to silence women, deny them of their rights, and torture, or even end, their existence.
Both Sampat Pal Devi’s Gulabi Gang and The Vicente Ferrer Foundation are following their common mission of increasing awareness of inhumanity and injustice and taking action to change it. With one organization in the North and the other in the South, I wish to spend some months in India between these two locations photo journaling the personal and collective changes that result from their influence over the social conditions that existing. My greatest dream would be realized if I had the opportunity to show the ability of women in harsh struggle to persevere with strength and determination through the medium that is my greatest passion, photography. By engaging in such a project, I hope that I would be able to move people towards the notion that a more just, sacred, and sustainable world is possible, and it is up to us, individually and collectively, to take action to make it real.
viernes, 13 de mayo de 2011
sábado, 16 de abril de 2011
Nemagon is the commercial name of the DBCP (dibromo chloropropane), developed and fabricated by some multinational chemical corporation.
DBCP appeared in the labs of the Dow Chemical Company and Shell Chemical Company. It was employed in the banana fiefs belonging to the multinational fruit companies to combat the nematode worms attacking the banana trees beginning with the end of the 60's, despite the lab probes that warned about its toxicity.
In lab rats it induced retarded growth, reduced testicles, and major lesions on the lungs and kidneys. But contacts between both companies silenced the evidence. Manipulated medical reports permitted DBCP's approval by the Food and Drugs Agency (FDA) of the US as without "excessive risk".
In 1969, Standard Fruit Company started its use in its banana plantations in Central America. There was no warning about the pesticide's toxicity and the workers did not receive protection equipment. Over the years, thousands of liters of Nemagon were employed in plantations in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Santa Lucia, Saint Vincent, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Philippines.
In 1975, the Environmental Protection Agency in US determined that DBCP was carcinogen (cancer-inducing). In 1977, 35 workers out of 114 making the product in a US factory were sterile. That year, its use in the US was stopped and its delivery ceased temporarily.
But Standard threatened with breach of contract, and Dow continued its delivery only when Standard assumed the cost of possible damages.
In 1979, DBCP was forbidden in Costa Rica, and Standard transferred its stocks to the neighboring Nicaragua. And in 2000, DBCP was still employed in Panama, 23 years after its prohibition in the US.
65,000 persons are supposed to have been affected by Nemagon all over the world. This while 67 % of the banana workers in Nicaragua are sterile or suffer of some DBCP-induced disease. 33 % of the women working in the banana plantations have uterus or breast cancer, while the average value in the rest of the population in poor countries is 1%.
DBCP is now recognized as one of the most powerful cancer inducing products, even in low doses. Other induced cancers are those of testicle, stomach kidney and duoden.
Other consequences of the DBCP are mental deficiencies, genetic malformations, still birth, spontaneous abortion, bone deformation, brittle bones, general pains (especially muscle and bones), muscle atrophy, eyesight loss, diabetes, weight loss, hair loss, teeth loss, skin spots lacking pigment, hormonal disturbances, menstruation alterations, tiresome, paralysis, insomnia, liver and spleen inflammation, diarrhea.
But the psychological and social consequences are equally tough: self-esteem loss, impotence, severe depression, sadness and confusion, translated in job loss, alcoholism and suicide. Many men were abandoned by their wives as they could not have children. Others appealed to other men to let their women pregnant, all of this resulting in matrimonial unbalances and separations.
The judiciary history of this insecticide in countries like Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Honduras started at the beginning of the 90's. In 1997, 20,000 affected workers were convinced by their own lawyers and some politicians to receive a miserable severance pay of about $100, giving up future indemnities.
Now, only those who did not take the bait can ask for higher compensations. Manifestations and strikes came with no final result. The sued multinationals in Nicaragua are Dow Agro Sciences, Aka del Monte Fruits, Del Monte Tropical Fruits, Shell Oil Company, Occidental Chemical Corporation, Standard Fruit Company, Dole Food Corporation Inc., Chiquita Brands International and Del Monte Foods.
But the legislation lack in these countries makes these cases very difficult to judge. Only Costa Rica approved a law by which the affected ones receive state compensations. 4,000 victims of Nicaragua received about 4,800 million dollars due to the intervention of the Justice Department of the US on 7 multinationals.
jueves, 17 de marzo de 2011
Tree House, New Orleans March 2011
My name is Hanna Quevedo. I am a professional photographer from Spain, and have been living in the United States since 2007. I currently live in San Francisco working as a freelance photographer and staff photographer for San Francisco Weekly and Mission Local. I am also the photo editor for El Tecolote, a bilingual newspaper in the Mission District. In addition to working for three different media publications, I continue to collaborate with independent media as Matador and Indymedia as well.
I started my career in a lab shooting black and white photos. After a while, I began to integrate color into my work. Both have very meaningful purposes in my expression.
For the past 10 years I have been shooting photos with the same intention: to capture the moments I find memorable and share these moments with a wide audience. My theme is “PEOPLE, PLACES, and THINGS.” To observe and save these images with a 'click' makes me happy, and I believe that joy is felt by those who see my photos.
I am passionate about, and completely dedicated to, capturing “the moment.” Photography is the reason I wake up each day. I see beauty in the simplest things we take for granted. I feel that we are constantly bombarded with negative imagery adapted to manipulate the observer with empathy. I do not pretend to change the world with my photos but I chose to focus on the positive and the beautiful rather than negativity.
I love showcasing my own intricate, perspective of the world around us and I hope that you find my work alluring. Using colors, lights, compositions and the simple magic of PEOPLE, PLACES and THINGS reflect the beauty of the world. The artistic opportunities are endless. I love experimenting with digital and analog because the results reflect different experiences, views, feelings and textures. I shoot with medium format, 35 mm and digital.
My work has provided me scholarships and internships in Spain, an assignment in Germany with a European Community project with children, a project in El Salvador, teaching photography in Central America for 4 months in both Usulutan City and San Miguel´s University. I have collaborated with magazines and newspapers in Mexico, Spain and USA (Denver and San Francisco).
I have searched out and taken advantage of every chance to share my work in each city I lived in over the past 9 years including venues such as galleries, art spaces, cafes, collective and individual shows, projections and framed photos.
I continue to learn and grow in my work, to travel and experience the culture of different countries and cities. I plan to continue my travels and hope to publish books of my journeys. I want to have my name in the Magnum photographers list.
These are my dreams and I know they can be fulfilled if I continue to pursue them and fight for them.
Las Tablas, Panama 2011
martes, 1 de marzo de 2011
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