2nd Student Artists' Book Contest 2016
Preview
Creation Date
2015
Description
Graduate student, year of graduation 2016. Major: Printmaking. Class: not part of a class project.
Materials + Techniques
silkscreen on paper, charcoal, hair, sand, wax
Student Narrative
In 1993 the lifeless body of a 12 year old Gladys Janet Fierro was found on the outskirts of Cd. Juarez Chih. MX, Gladys was raped and strangled. Nobody knew that this case would only mark the beginning of what would become a wave of violence and femicides in the border area of Cd. Jaurez and El Paso TX. From 1993 to 2015, more than a thousand cases of disappeared and murdered women have been reported. Less than 20% of the reported cases have been solved, the rest remain unsolved and forgotten in some file in a police office. In Mexico every day 6 to 10 women disappear from the streets, most of them are victims of the organize crime and government corruption. From 1988 until today, Mexico has gone through five corrupt presidents that have done nothing to stop the violence in Mexico, the violence continues, the number of dead victims keeps increasing and the cases remain unpunished. 23 Años de Silencio (23 Years of Silence) is a timeline that documents the violence and suffering Mexican families have gone through for the past 23 years. In the images you will find portraits of the victims, portraits of the victims families, city landscapes, the last 5 presidents of Mexico and 2 of the most powerful cartel leaders in Mexico. The charcoal tallies on the back side of the pages represent the victims and as people handle the book the tallies will start to disappear just like these women did.