The MNA and Casa África open the exhibition “Women of the Congo”

Last night, Arianne Hernández, general secretary of Casa África, and Luis Lafuente Batanero, director general of Fine Arts and Cultural Heritage, accompanied by the two photographers, opened the exhibition Women of the Congo. Photographs by Isabel Muñoz and Concha Casajús, organised by the National Museum of Anthropology (MNA) and Casa África.

This exhibition is the result of the union of two projects: Mujeres del Congo. Camino de la Esperanza (Women of the Congo. The Path of Hope), by Isabel Muñoz and Las Mujeres que rompieron el silencio (Women who broke the silence), by Concha Casajús. The origins of Isabel Muñoz’s project are in her collaboration with the Congolese journalist Caddy Adzuba. The result of this collaboration was a first exhibition that toured the Democratic Republic of the Congo under the title Femmes du Congo. La Route Vers l’Espérance. The exhibition was inaugurated in Kinshasa on 12 June 2015 at the headquarters of the French Institute with the support of the Spanish Embassy.

Through this exhibition, these women - who have suffered sexual violence used as a weapon of war and violations committed mostly in their home environment - want to show their determination to confront the suffering and say definitively NO to their status as victims.

The ceremony was also attended by Miguel González Suela, deputy director general of State Museums and Fernando Sáez Lara, director of the National Museum of Anthropology.