Femicidio- asesinato de una mujer a manos de un hombre por machismo o misoginia. The violent and tragic deaths of women in Mexico occurs on a heartbreaking basis. This new media installation brings attention to the epidemic of misogyny and hate that brings pain to so many families. Feminicidio is a two part project about the daughters, sisters, mothers and friends lost to femicide. Learn more about Femicide.
In an attempt to capture the morbid reality of a never-ending cycle, I utilized AI to generate a plethora of portraits mimicking the characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity) of victims of femicide in Mexico. These generated images are the 'future victims,' should the world continue to allow the violence to continue and in theory the amount of portraits that can be created is limitless. Examples of the AI generated portraits are seen above.
After curating a selection I took the portraits into photo-editing software and created a black and white digital stencil for each. Using these stencils, I then cutout physical versions of each AI generated girl on red/pink painted bristol boards and hung them from the ceiling of a dark confined room along with strips of white lace fabric. The audience was given hand-held flashlights and instructed to create shadow puppets of various sizes by experimenting with direction and proximity of the light to the materials. Below are videos of the exhibit in action.
The flashlights put the power of exposure in the hands of the audience and in allowing them to manipulate the shadows of these 'unheard future victims' it draws parallels to the role of an advocate for the real victims. They have the power to be as loud or as quiet, to make as big or as small a deal of the issue as they choose. There is also something to be said about the darkness that surrounds them if they choose not to use the flashlight in the exhibit.