VIVIR PARA CONTARLO / LIVE TO TELL

Vivir para contarlo (Live to tell) is an ongoing long-term project about feminicide and violence against women.

Starting from Argentina, a country that in recent years has experienced an increase of gender violence, I’m documenting this issue and the many different kind of violence women suffer focusing my attention on the Latin American countries where the problem is relevant.

The phenomenon of gender violence and its most extreme manifestation, femicide, is unfortunately so massive as to be transversal: from childhood to adulthood, no social class and no conditions is excluded, even pregnant women aren’t spread.

Particularly serious in the many slums of the cities where people live in poor condition, criminality is very high and the youngster are in danger.

One aspect, which I have dealt with in depth and documented in various countries such as Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, Brazil, Argentina up to Tierra del Fuego at the southern end of the continent, is the one linked to the women trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation. An international network where many young teenagers falls into, victims of people who promise them the dream of a different life, a job, and then force them to prostitute in the brothels in the biggest cities of Argentina and Brazil or in the touristic places of the deep south. This phenomenon that sadly involves about 24 million people in the world, most women and children forced into prostitution, traded as sex slaves, raped, abused and often killed. Most were found dead after years or disappeared forever. This network is connected to the narcos cartel drugs traffic with connivance of local police.

My analysis of the issue also goes through totally different stories but linked by a common thread. For example, In Brazil I’ve documented what it once was the favela with highest rates of femicides in the country that now was turned to a matriarchal society with no tolerance rules for violent men born thanks to the work of some former victims. In Chile on domestic violence and feminist protests against police abuses during the rebellion against Neo-liberalism and the government of Piñera.

Other countries already covered or ongoing are: Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Perù, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Georgia, Iran, Armenia, Kazakhstan.

I strongly believe in the usefulness of this work that contains more than one goal:

Continue documenting several issues closely linked to gender violence, for making known to the greatest audience of people the enormity of the violence perpetrated against women in its various aspects.

Raising awareness about this problem is the most effective immediate solution to give courage to other women to come forward to tell their stories and bring pressure on the governments. Moreover give strength and visibility to the pressure groups born in the last few years that daily concrete help all the women abandoned by institutions and society.