Exposición: Mujeres del Congo. El camino a la esperanza

As part of the celebrations of Women’s Day and the San Sebastian Film and Human Rights Festival, the Department of Cooperation and the Department of Human Rights of the Donostia/San Sebastián City Council and Donostia Kultura, in collaboration with Casa África, are organising the photographic exhibition “Women of the Congo. The road to hope” by Isabel Muñoz.

Women of the Congo is a project born out of the collaboration between the Spanish photographer Isabel Muñoz and the Congolese journalist Caddy Adzuba, thanks to whose support and protection Isabel was able to undertake her photographic project on the women of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - heroines with whom Caddy works every day.

Casa África produced and hosted this photographic project in its headquarters. The project was carried out in the DRC, a country that accumulates wealth from coltan, diamonds, gold, oil and gas while a large part of the population, mainly women, live in conditions of misery and extreme violence.

After being on display at the Museum of Nature and Man in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the National Museum of Anthropology, the exhibition is now at the Okendo Cultural Centre (Nafarroa Hiribidea, 7, 20013 Donostia, Gipuzkoa) where it can be visited from 29 March to 4 May 2019.

The fight for control of the territory has never ceased and the images that make up this exhibition echo the testimonies of women from 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 move forward, with dignity. 

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.

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