Karla Almonte

As an artist, I’m essentially interested in dissecting and integrating my own culture into my pieces. I criticize it, I embrace it, and I often showcase elements that are linked to my childhood and experiences in them. When I began immersing myself into the world of Digital Design and Illustration, I wasn’t sure of the impact that it had on people. I experienced graphics every day and everywhere, but I did not consider it to be emotionally impactful per se. Until, I became aware of the intersectionality of politics, feminism and graphics. Becoming aware of the many things one can do through this medium whilst maintaining a voice and a purpose drove me to execute this project.

This project holds a lot of importance for me. I am criticizing a misogynistic culture which I form part of by default, with the purpose of bringing attention to an epidemic that keeps spreading in my homeland: Feminicide, killing women for being women. It seems like that shouldn’t be occurring without repercussions in 2019, yet it still happens in The Dominican Republic. One of the cases that brought my interest into this project was the case of Emely Peguero, a pregnant sixteen-year-old girl whom was murdered by her boyfriend and with the assistance of his mother because Emely was against having an abortion. She was left in a suitcase in the middle of a deserted road. This was just one case that became a mainstream news event in 2017. Sadly, there were plenty of murders or feminicides before and after Emely that didn’t get attention.

The purpose of this project is to bring those victims back in to the conversation or into a conversation they were never in. I want people to become aware of what is happening to women and how power and money divert our attention from the daily brutality against women.

For my BFA, I am presenting a set of illustrations that will depict victims of feminicide, victims that had impacted my life and the lives of a community whilst still honoring them. As I provide a memorial with my illustrations, I expect this project to spark conversation and questions about our awareness and involvement, as none of us can be innocent bystanders.

Some artists that have inspired my project are Gerhard Richter, Celeste Woss y Gil, and Yoryi Morel.