Scars of a necessary struggle


  • Photographer
    Viviana Torres
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Date of Photograph
    2011

This 5 images are part of a 15 photographs series that addresses the University of Puerto Rico conflict using nudes as canvases to project images of the signs, manifestations and iconic moments during the student protests. It does not attempt to journalistically document the issue but explore the mental and sometimes physical scars this struggle have left behind.

Story

The University of Puerto Rico, the state’s university, a place for education regardless of political affiliations and economical influences, has been a target for countless violations including those regarding civil rights. Recently Puerto Rico’s only public university suffered a series of financial cuts and other injustices, which led to student’s strike and massive protests.
This series, which in total is composed by 15 images, attempts visually and artistically present how the images we are seeing, the events been recorded in history are becoming part of our memories. Internationally a country is recognized by the events that make worldwide headlines and this is certainly one of them for Puerto Rico. All these are becoming part of the present generation and will be told to the future ones.
As an overall series I just want to reflect the psychological scars this could be leaving in this generation, the power and convictions these students have had to stand up to an oppressive government and how the violent times we are living is affecting basic things like our education. The word scar is also literal, not only metaphorical, because trough out this process student’s have been thrown down staircases, beaten down, hurt with tear gases and more, which have indeed leave physical scars as well. And this is not only something that is happening in Puerto Rico alone, we will be seeing more of these as long as education stops been a priority for the governments that put financial interest before an educated population.

You can create multiple entries, and pay for them at the same time.
Just go to your History, and select multiple entries that you would like to pay for.