‘Making Machismo: contextualizing queer life and death in Colima, Mexico’. February, 2018.
Mexico’s macho culture is killing the queer community. Between 2014 and 2017, an estimated 164 trans women were murdered in Mexico. The relatively small coastal state of Colima has not been immune to the ongoing violence, having been rocked by several murders in the past 6 months alone. Impunity for crimes against LGBTQIA+ has fostered continuing and endemic violence, which has only surged since president Enrique Peña Nieto proposed pro-queer legislative action and the nation wide legalization of same sex marriage in 2016.
This visual essay titled, ‘Machismo Making: contextualizing queerness in Colima, Mexico’, accompanied my article of the same name published here, explores the setting in which queer people live and die in Colima Mexico, through the documenting of the annual ‘Charrotaurinas de Villa de Álvarez’ festival.
‘Afghanistan’s War on Malnutrition’. 2015 - 2016.
Without peace, there is hunger. This collection of photographs were taken while on assignment for Action Contre la Faim, are sourced from health facilities and communities across Afghanistan, reflecting the impact of war and conflict and its relationship to hunger. Since the 2014 drawdown of NATO forces in Afghanistan, the need for humanitarian assistance has escalated. Insecurity and direct attacks on and around health facilities in Afghanistan continues to be a barrier for community access to essential lifesaving nutrition services. Malnutrition rates among children have surged up to 40 percent. In active fighting zones in provinces such as Helmand and Kandahar, the incidence and prevalence of child stunting and severe acute malnutrition is even more profound.
Although this photo series provides only a glimpse into the human experience of delivering and seeking healthcare under duress, it is hoped that they highlight the remaining urgent and persistent health needs of the Afghan people of which basic lifesaving health needs remain unfulfilled – so common to those in protracted crises.