Why creating new narratives is so crucial

"Being aware of stereotypes is crucial"

How to tackle old narratives

As a documentary photographer focused on human rights and social issues, I take my work as a political task. I wonder what imaginaries and what kinds of representations have been generated since photography about the people or the issues that I’m going to address emerged.

One of the methods I use is to make a list of stereotypes and negative issues that exist around a certain topic to avoid repeating them. I ask myself how we can communicate from other angles:

1. How can we show a world that we don’t know yet?
2. How can we use the power of photography to help people understand that discrimination and violence are not the norm so they can think of other possibilities that profoundly transform their lives and their realities?

Co-developing new narratives

For several years I have interviewed and talked with women who have had an abortion and who don’t feel guilty about it. For many of those women it wasn’t a traumatic process but rather a way to reaffirm their autonomy and their life projects. When the women from the NGO and I talked about what kind of narrative we want to position, it seemed important to us that the photographs are faithful to the testimonies the women shared on their platform. The voice of hope and the reaffirmation of their decisions that was a constant in all testimonies should be transmitted through the photographs.

I remember very well that I mentioned how common it is in projects on abortion to depict rusty clinical objects and  women coming out of the shadow, looking very sad. The only thing those representations do, however, is appeal to women to continue feeling guilty and ashamed for aborting. “Enciendo mi voz” was a huge opportunity to do a 180-degree turn and tell a totally different story. This time we were going to tell the stories from our point of view and in a proud way, because there is no shame in women wanting to continue with their dreams and life projects.

Breaking patterns to change people’s perception

Without a doubt, this collaboration has been one of the most motivating projects in my career as a photographer. I am deeply grateful to Alejandra from Gender Equity for allowing me to contribute to a change of narrative and thereby provoke a mindset change  in Mexican society so that women can live a life free of violence, stereotypes and discrimination when they seek to exercise their right to abort.

The result was a very successful campaign. The Equity team recently shared with me that they surpassed their expectations and were able to present a report to their donors that far exceeded what they had proposed. Thanks to the colourful photographs of women who don’t suffer but affirm their decisions about their own bodies, people and the general public changed their perception of women who have abortions in Mexico. They now see them as women who made the best decision for themselves.