KAREN CASTILLO FARFÁN
The goal of photojournalists is to enlighten their audience and make a difference. When the Academic Council for the United Nations System (ACUNS) asked if I had an image they could use for their cover page, I was drawn to an image I took in Juarez, Mexico. I was covering a story of parents whose daughters were victims of femicide. I followed them as they searched for human remains in isolated areas of the Sonoran Desert. These parents combed through bushes, searched under rocks, and in abandoned fire pits in hopes of uncovering fragments of their beloved child. In the process, we came to a field where mud cracks covered the ground—near a clandestine grave where the bodies of missing girls were previously found. There I stood under the sun, over the parched soil, glaring at the earth with fury and heartbreak. I lifted my camera over my eye, pointed the lens at the ground, and took a picture. At the moment,
I did not know why I was drawn to take a picture of mud cracks. At home, when I studied the image, I discovered a very subtle shape within the slits. Knowing the photo could not be used for journalistic publication, I brought it to Photoshop to stylize a visual message. This was the image I presented to ACUNS, which they used for the cover page of their volume IV issue. The book was used during the United Nations conference in New York, where member states discussed what could be done about femicide. As the books were handed to participants, I listened and watched for reactions. To my satisfaction, the image did make an impact, serving as a reminder of why they were there. The book, with its subsequent photo, was seen by hundreds of people who had the power to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable women and girls across the globe. I knew when they returned to their country, the image they carried could help them start the conversation of what can be done to end femicide.
In the Sonoran desert, south of Juarez, Mexico, activists, volunteers, and the media gather to help parents as they search for human remains in hopes of finding their missing daughters. These parents lost trust in their government whom have not shown due diligence in investigating their missing or murdered daughters, thus, they take it upon themselves to find them.
Parents of femicide victims search the Sonoran desert for their daughters' remains in a area where the bodies of missing girls were previously found.
The unedited image, which inspired the ACUNS cover photo.
In the Sonoran desert, south of Juarez, Mexico, activists, volunteers, and the media gather to help parents as they search for human remains in hopes of finding their missing daughters. These parents lost trust in their government whom have not shown due diligence in investigating their missing or murdered daughters, thus, they take it upon themselves to find them.
