Johana (17) observes what remains of her last birthday celebration. Pintag, November 22, 2020.

The public school Johana attended as a child, she left this institution after being mistreated by a teacher. Pintag, November 22, 2020.

Johana feeds her grandmother's chickens while her little cousins watch her. The family supports itself, among other activities, by farming small animals. Pintag, November 22, 2020.

View from Johana's house, the rural village is surrounded by mountains, vegetation and a small creek. Pintag, November 22, 2020.

Johana religiously cleans her prosthesis three times every day, this has become part of her daily routine. Pintag, November 22, 2020.

Johana lives in the house built with the effort of many years of her grandmother, some blankets make walls that separate her room from the living room. Pintag, November 22, 2020.

Throughout the house are toys from Johana's little cousins. Pintag, November 22, 2020.

In a small forest in the rural town of Pintag, Johana points to the exact location where she fainted the moment members of the army threw a tear gas bomb in her face. Pintag, November 22, 2020.

Portrait of Johana in the forest where she was injured on October 13, 2019, despite the traumatic situation she likes the green spaces of her town. Pintag, November 22, 2020.

Johana* (17) lives in a small rural town in Ecuador. When she was 15 years old, on October 13, 2019, she was delivering water for the manifestants who were in the mobilizations of the National Strike against Decree 883 imposed by the Ecuadorian government; that day she was hit by a tear gas bomb thrown by members of the army, as a consequence she lost one of her eyes.Despite the fact that in its report the Special Commission for Truth and Justice of the Ombudsman's Office qualified the eye injuries as a human rights violation, the people who suffered the loss of eyes have not received any reparation from the state. Johana's life project was truncated, she is currently suffering from depression due to the loss of her eye, in addition, she has a history of violence and sexual abuse since her childhood.Johana's story is a small sample of the vulnerability to which thousands of girls and adolescents in Ecuador are exposed due to the absence of public policies to help them overcome situations of family and state violence.

*Protected name.

November 2020

This March 7, 2021, about 1500 women mobilized from the Caja de Seguro to the Plaza de Santo Domingo in Quito, to commemorate International Women's Day.

A year ago began the health emergency due to Covid-19 and the historic mobilization of March 8, was the last one that women and feminist sectors starred in different parts of the country before the pandemic changed the dynamics of life and conditioned to a new reality the taking of the streets and public spaces.Additionally, the mobilization takes place in a context of electoral uncertainty, where there is still a second round where it will be announced who will assume the Presidency of Ecuador, in the midst of the precariousness of life and the social and economic crisis that the country is going through.

[Text from La Periódica]

March 2021

Eli, her story of resilience, that face that reflects the strength of a woman who has gone through every obstacle to make her own way.

Ely is part of Mujeres de Frente an organization of self-employed shopkeepers, recyclers, students, teachers, artists, unpaid domestic workers, relatives of people deprived of liberty, children, adolescents and women released from prison.

May 2021

Cristina: "When I had my first "serious lesbian relationship", my mom interrogated me in her room, with Jesus looking at me from the painting, his heart clutched in his hands."

With Cris's story I couldn't help but think that in the end it is she who took her own heart in her hands, those strong hands.

June 2021

Portrait of Ruth Montenegro, she is the mother of Valentina Cosíos Montenegro, a child victim of femicide.
When Valentina was 11 years old she was murdered in the school where she was studying on June 23, 2016, since then her mother, Ruth, fights tirelessly in the search for justice and to prevent more femicides.

June 2021

Portrait of Bernarda Robles.
Bernarda was a victim of rape 10 years ago by Fernando M., a well-known cultural manager of the group "Rana Sabia". She has been through a long judicial process where her rights have been violated on several occasions and she continues to struggle in the search for justice.
Bernarda's words: "When I was born I had more hair than body. A straight, untamable, jet hair in which, as a child, some butterflies were pinned..."

July 2021