Bronze Roses, Pink Crosses, Feminicide: The Art of Lament in Ciudad Juarez
Name of Award
APDC Faculty Research & Scholarly Activities Grant
Date Awarded
6-2017
Department/School
Theology
Project Description
Colleen Carpenter, Associate Professor of Theology, received $6,050 from the APDC Internal Grant Fund to explore how public art can respond to the trauma suffered by entire communities as they confront the ongoing problem of violence against women, including feminicide. In 2009, the government of Mexico was ordered to construct a public memorial to eight victims of the ongoing feminicide – the targeted killing of women simply because they are women – in Ciudad Juarez. The as-yet-unfinished memorial at Campo Algodonero features eight pink crosses and a bronze statue titled Flor de Arena. The memorial is more than decoration: it is a center of ongoing lament and persistent resistance to the continuing terror.
By using studies of lament, trauma, feminist and liberal theologies, and how the arts awaken the moral imagination, the goal is to show that the memorial at Campo Algodonero is sacramental and locates God firmly on the side of the victim.
Recommended Citation
Carpenter, Colleen, "Bronze Roses, Pink Crosses, Feminicide: The Art of Lament in Ciudad Juarez" (2017). Internal Grant Awards. 275.
https://sophia.stkate.edu/internal_awards/275