#Ingrid

This is Swiss artist Zoé Aubry’s third body of work devoted to femicide, its frequent occurrence, and the ways in which this phenomenon in society is addressed (or not) by the media. When Ingrid Escamilla Vargas was brutally murdered by her male companion, the Mexican tabloids and gutter press avidly circulated grisly images of the atrocious crime, plastered across their front pages. The case unleashed a wave of protests in the country, as it exposed once again how deeply rooted violence against women is in Mexican society. Aubry addresses the violent sensationalism and voyeurism of certain media and uses her art to strongly condemn both the violence and complicity.

This opportunistic move by the gutter press, which had no qualms in plastering the young woman’s dismembered body across its front pages, and the complicity of the police in making it possible, sparked a wave of protests. Spurred by a tweet to do their part in ridding the internet of these gruesome images, social media users around the world posted numerous photos of peaceful lakes, sunsets, fields of flowers and other scenes of natural beauty under the hashtag #IngridEscamillaVargas.
Moved by this collaborative effort, Zoé Aubry, who has been working on the systemic and structural phenomenon of feminicides and the issues raised by their media coverage since 2017, has produced a book that pays homage to the memory of Ingrid E.V., denounces violence against women, and assails the voyeurism of a certain segment of the press.