Public Art: Femicide

The word femicide gained its re-entry into our recent world culture, through the written activism of Diana Washington Valdez, a veteran award-winning journalist for the El Paso Times in Texas. The first to report on the abductions and brutal murders of hundreds of young Mexican women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Washington-Valdez’ relentless exploration has officially awoken us to the fact that 3rd world women’s lives are in serious danger.  Mexico’s inability to resolve these murders has encouraged women throughout the world to voice their outrage for the legal impunity towards femicides in their own countries.  In 2002, less than 6 years ago, googling words such as “femicide”, “women of Ciudad Juarez”, “border murders”, “NAFTA murders” or “abductions in Chihuahua”, brought no results. The results under these search terms are now substantial, due to the visual, written and performance artists who have vowed to create work on Juarez, until the crimes are resolved. Pictured below: Postcard for ESPEJO: A protest exhibit against Femicides in Guatemala (Santa Ana, CA, May 2007). Curated by Artist Victoria Delgadillo.  Exterior Art Installation by Rigo Maldonado with Performer/Poet Gabriela Garcia Medina.

In 2006, Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis of California introduced a resolution into congress condemning the brutal murders in Ciudad Juarez and urging the United States and Mexico to discuss resolution steps as part of their bilateral agenda. The resolution was passed.  Following up on work by Grassroots activists such as Guatemalan/American, Lucia Muñoz, founder of Mujeres Iniciando en las Americas (MIA) [dedicated to exposing the femicides in Guatemala], Congresswoman Solis introduced U.S. House Resolution 100 in 2007. This resolution expresses concern over the unsolved murders of more than 2,000 women in Guatemala since 2001 and encourages new efforts to address these crimes and prevent further killings. This resolution also passed.

(Information for this post provided by Victoria Delgadillo)