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Artist Statement Women Empowered February 19 – March 7, 2009 |
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Dhaki Yabelo, Ethiopia 2005 4/35 archival digital print 28.5 x 27.5 inches Dhaki’s family are pastoralists of the Boran tribe who raise cattle and camels. Because of their nomadic lifestyle and heavy workload, Boran children seldom attend school. Recently CARE opened a ‘non formal school’ in Dhaki’s territory with flexible hours to accommodate the Boran life style. Five months ago Dhaki became the first person in her family to attend school.It takes her over an hour to walk to the stick frame school house from her current home. Her teacher said that even though she is always laughing and telling jokes she is a great student. |
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Rufo Ethiopia 2004, 33/35* archival digital print 28.5 x 27.5 inches I first noticed Rufo as she was walking to school with her sister. The elegant wardrobe that she had created with remnants and scraps of cloth fascinated me. Like most Boran girls in southern Ethiopia, she spends her days collecting water and firewood, herding the goats and helping her mother cook. Her labor plays a vital role in her family’s survival. |
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Transito Ecuador 2000, 3/35 archival digital print 27 x 23 inches Transito, a legendary human rights figure, is often referred to as the “Rosa Parks of Ecuador.” After the Spanish conquest, many indigenous people were stripped of their rights and forced to serve as indentured servants in the hacienda system. In 1926, at the age of 17, Transito spoke out against a hacienda owner who had been molesting her. She was sent to jail for five months for protesting her abuse. Upon her release, she became a legend for speaking out about the plight of indigenous Ecuadorians. Later, she was instrumental in organizing a strike by indigenous farmers, which catalyzed a newfound respect for indigenous peoples in Ecuadorian politics and in society at large. |
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Lucille Windy-Boy, 71 Chippewa-Cree Rocky Boy, Montana 1998, ed. 6/50 archival digital print 27 x 23 inches Lucille, a recent widow, is well known around Rocky Boy for the high-quality tepees she sews. Her husband had been widely known throughout the territory as an important spiritual leader. When I met Lucille, she was surrounded by some of her 42 grandchildren and 32 great-grandchildren. They proudly told me that Lucille and her husband had started college five years ago and earned their bachelor degrees together. |
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Yeshi, 13 1994, AP1 archival digital print 27 x 23 inches Yeshi was practicing her Tibetan script on a painted board in this small village school. I was amazed by the quality of her work. It was like some of the finest caligraphy I had seen. Her teacher was a Tibetan who had been educated in a Chinese-run university. My interperter told me that even though the Tibetan language was being taught, the content of all their books on history and Tibetan culture were written from a Chinese perspective. |
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Akhi, 32 Tangail, Bangladesh Ed 3/35 * archival digital print 28.5 x 27.5 inches At age 13, before she had even begun menstruating, Akhi was sold into a brothel by her aunt. After working for several years, she became highly depressed and attempted suicide. Her failed attempt brought about an epiphany: her life could be used to improve the lot of her fellow sex workers. Akhi accomplished the near-impossible task of gaining support from religious, political, and social groups to create an organization to advocate for sex workers’ rights. Despite being arrested three times, she prevailed and, in 1998, formed the “Nani Mukti Sangha” organization. Since the group commenced, condom use in the brothel has increased from near zero to eighty-six percent, and the number of 12- to 13-year-olds recruited into the brothels has decreased. Today, she continues to fight tenaciously for sex workers’ rights, and is said to have such a forceful personality that even the police are afraid of her. |
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Genesis Suipira, Ecuador Ed. 1/35* archival digital print 28.5 x 27.5 inches Genesis lives in a mountain village in which many young children have died form waterborne illnesses. At the age of 18, her mother, Gloria, persuaded the fiercely independent members of her community to unite and fix their age-old water problems. She convinced CARE to donate the necessary materials then organized over 70 “mingas” (community work parties) to dig miles of trenches and assemble the system. Suipira now has the most sophisticated water system in the area – an incredible achievement, especially for a young woman in this culture. |
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Amena, 35 Chunna, Bangladesh Ed 1/35* archival digital print 28.5 x 27.5 inches After working as a servant for many years, Amena joined CARE’s “Rural Maintenance Program” (RMP). The program guaranteed Amena a job for 4 years, so long as she saved 20% of her income and participated in extensive human rights, health, literacy, and “Small Business Management” training sessions. Upon completing the program, she had saved 12K, which she used to purchase a cow. Three months later, she sold it for 16k and eventually built her herd to 6 cows, an astonishing feat for a female and former servant. Today, she houses her cows and grows rice on 25 acres of rented land. She wishes to ultimately own this land and double her herd. |
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Asgal, 52 Awash Fontale, Ethiopia Ed 26/35* archival digital print 28.5 x 27.5 inches As a leader of the circumcision ceremony, Asgeli had performed hundreds of female circumcisions. Now, like others in the village, she is supportive of the change in custom that Abay had advocated. She said, “We did the circumcisions because that is what had always been done.We were in the dark house and did not know.” |
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Fahima, 38 Kabul, Afghanistan Ed. 6/35* archival digital print 28.5 x 27.5 inches Fahima, a teacher since 1985, was one of thousands of professional women who lost their jobs when the Taliban came to power in 1996. In defiance of the Taliban and at great risk to herself, Fahima opened a clandestine school for young girls. At one point, 130 girls were coming to her home each week to study math, science, and the local language, Pushto. When the girls were asked why they were going to Fahima’s house, they said she was their aunt. Although harassed by the religious police and threatened with beatings and worse, Fahima continued operating her school for girls until the fall of the Taliban in 2001. |
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Gilo, 52 Yabelo, Ethiopia Ed. 1/35* archival digital print 28.5 x 27.5 inches Gilo spent much of her time fetching water for her family of five before the organization CARE built a cistern in her village.; Previously she had to walk more than three hours, four times a week, with her daughter Galmo to collect water from the nearest spring in the mountains. The cistern freed up enough time to allow Galmo to start going to school. Galmo is her first child, and the first person in her entire family, to get a formal education.; In many Ethiopian villages something as basic as building a cistern or drilling a well will allow hundreds of children to get an education. |
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Howa, 8 Awash Fontale, Ethiopia Ed. 14/35* archival digital print 28.5 x 27.5 inches Howa’s mother was one of the first women in Awash Fontale to be convinced that female circumcision was a “bad practice.” Thanks to Abay’s efforts, Howa will be the first girl in her entire family history not to be circumcised. | ||
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Humaria, 11 Kabul, Afghanistan Ed. 7/35 archival digital print 28.5 x 27.5 inches Humaria sells eggs as a street vendor to help her family survive. As with many families in Afghanistan, years of war have left them very poor. Only half of all Afghan children ages 7 to 13 attend school. When the luxury of education is an option, boys are typically chosen over girls. | ||
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Rosaline, 35 Dogbo, Benin Ed. 1/35* archival digital print 28.5 x 27.5 inches Rosaline fights against two threats looming over impoverished girls in Benin: child trafficking and forced marriage. Most young girls are voluntarily handed over by their desperately poor parents who have been led to believe they are providing a better future for their child. Rosaline often brings child victims into her home until she can find long-term solutions for their care. To bring awareness to this issue, Rosaline started a Social Promotion Center in conjunction with CARE. As a result of the program the frequency of forced marriage has fallen significantly and hundreds of parents have been educated about the risks of child trafficking. | ||
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Rosario Crillo, 51 Cuenca, Ecuador Ed. 1/35* archival digital print 28.5 x 27.5 inches Rosario, like many women in Cuenca, used to be shy and reluctant to express herself. She told me that before participating in CARE’s recycling project and workshops on women’s empowerment, she was a heavy drinker. After participating in the workshops, Rosario stopped drinking and learned how to assert herself with greater confidence. She has grown to be a community leader and was recently elected vice president of a support group of 30 women. She now leads workshops on reproductive health, domestic violence, self-esteem, and is currently creating a play on women. |
