TheOthered Women photo project arises out of a need to understand and make visible the difficulty women have in talking about the reasons they have freely decided not to become mothers: Why are these stories hidden from the public narrative? Why is this still a taboo topic? How does this decision relate to women´s demand for control over their bodies? What are the social and political implications of deciding not to become a mother?
Images and testimony in this digital project make the subjectivities of these othered women visible. Mother's Day is not for them; they have rejected the social mandate that equates being a (good) woman with being a mother.
Judith Romero photographs these othered women, women from diverse social, geographic and class backgrounds, as well as diverse gender identities, in their process of confronting stereotypes, prejudice and criticism.
Romero immerses herself in the intimacies of their lives as together they explore the complexities and strengths of their life decisions. The images of faces, spaces and objects reveal desire, longing and their unique visions of the world.
A short video documents the process as Mariana, Lisa, Natacha, Claudia, Ronda, Gisela, Renata, Emilia, Fabiana and Deyanira speak of their decisions and give us a chance to discover the recurrent themes in their stories—infancy, solitude, religion, social pressure, caring, the right to control over their bodies, abortion, independence.
Rían Lozano
Curadora de la exposición
Investigadora del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas de la UNAM y Doctora en
Filosofía (área de Estética y Teoría de las Artes).
