Exhibition: Women of the Congo

Women of the Congo
The road to hope
The women who broke the silence

Women of the Congo is a project born as a result of the collaboration between Spanish photographers Isabel Muñoz and Concha Casajús and the Congolese journalist Caddy Adzuba. Thanks to Caddy’s support and protection each photographer could develop her project on women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the heroines with whom Caddy works daily.

Casa África brought together the work which these two photographers conducted independently in the Congo, a country that amasses a wide range of riches (coltan, diamonds, gold, oil, gas) while much of the population, especially the women, lives in poverty and situations of extreme violence.

Now this work can be visited at the Museo Nacional de Antropología from 16th march to 18 june 2017

The fighting over control of the territory has never ceased and the images that come to Casa África are the echo of the testimonies of the women of Bukavu in the province of South Kivu in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. They have learnt how to survive the extreme violence they have suffered, picking themselves up and moving forward with a strength and courage that deserves great admiration and deep respect.

This exhibition aims to bring together the stories of these brave women who have managed to survive, free themselves from suffering and finally come out on top, with dignity. The name given to each body of work gives an idea of ​​the message they want to convey. Muñoz brings together her photographs under the title The road to hope and Casajús calls hers The women who broke the silence.

The photographers shared daily life with these survivors, a fierce fight against life itself that shows that they are prepared to take charge of their destiny. Together with the female activists from Bukavu who accompany them, these women who have survived sexual violence used as a weapon of war want to use this exhibition to show their determination to confront the suffering and say definitively NO to their status as victims. Real progress towards victory against sexual violence.

This project also aims to encourage those involved in the fight to combat sexual violence against women and girls to reflect, so that they might make a real and effective commitment through concrete actions and thus help women who are in this situation.

Another objective of this exhibition is to denounce before the United Nations that UN Security Council Convention 1325 is far from being implemented and that the protection of women remains a crucial issue.

Digigraphie® from Epson certifies the originality of Isabel Muñoz's photos