Origin | POY Latam

My great-grandmother at the age of 14, by that time she fled home to avoid the sexual and physical abuse she was receiving from her stepfather. After that, he became homeless for a period of time.

My great-great-great-grandmother was pursued by a former Costa Rican military president/dictator who raped and impregnated her. His goal was to cut her hair and kidnap her daughter. The symbolism of a short hair woman at that time was a disgrace for not being a virgin outside marriage. She ran away to Panama and hid for several years until he was expelled from the country.

Burning photography of the military dictator and former president of Costa Rica who raped and impregnated my great-great-grandmother, after that, she was threatened with kidnapping her daughter. She had to escape to Panama for several years since she worked as his cook.

At the age of 18, crying in the tub days after being sexually abused, I was living on my own in Argentine far away from my home country, I was abused by a famous photographer while attending his workshop. I was alone and scared and used documentation as a way to verbalize my trauma.

A photograph of the photographer who abused me.

Self-documentation was my primary tool to overcome and verbalize my trauma.

Hearing fireworks can often be associated with joy and excitement; however, they can also represent a transformation in many cultures.

A photo of my mother and great-grandmother. At an early age, my mom was sexually abused, it took her 50 years to verbalize it, only after I showed her this work in progress.

Self-portrait, Self-documentation was my primary tool to overcome and verbalize my trauma.

My mother’s womb after she suffered obstetric violence during her hysterectomy surgery, performed by a Gynecologist who later on was charged with sexual abuse crimes.

A photograph of my great-great-grandmother who past years of her childhood in Almirante Panama hiding from the military who has looking for her.

My grandmother always told me that the butterflies represent the rebirth of our matriarchy.

My mom and me carrying my daughter in my womb, three generations together.

A photograph of my placenta. When my daughter was born I cut the umbilical cord alongside the ties of the scars and wounds of my abuses.

My grandmother talked to me about the healing power of water, years after, I felt that power on my own, and now I keep seeking refuge in it, water symbolizes the return to a sacred place.

My grandmother had Intellectual disabilities as a consequence of an accident, when she was a teenager, 3 older men raped her taking advantage of her condition. 60 years later she talked about it with my mom.

A photograph of my great-grandmother’s stepfather who allegedly raped her.

Fire symbolizes birth, resurrection, hope, purification, eternity.

The urge to connect with my inner child, to heal my wounds, to rewrite my story, to overcome and avoid the revictimization of our stories.

On April 2023, in Costa Rica, a 13-year-old girl was at the center of the media when her 9-month-old baby got stolen from her, allegedly by her 33-year-old step-father, who also happens to be the father of the baby (meaning, the rapist of the girl).

In Latin America, statistics have always been against women, 5 of the 12 countries with the highest rate of femicide in the world are located in the region.

Between 60% and 76% of women and girls in Latin America and the Caribbean have been a victim or have experienced an episode of gender-based violence in different areas of their lives.

Origen is a personal long-term project that aims to address the stories of sexual abuse and violence in my maternal lineage, myself included.

As women, we have experienced the abusive power of our patriarchal societies, having been silenced, mistreated, oppressed, and murdered.

The project was born as an internal healing journey through current images and past memories seeking to regain control of our bodies, souls, and stories.

 The discussion with the women of my family has made me relate with them on a new level, meanwhile, I discover how my pregnancy and becoming a mother have urged me to heal and stop this unwanted heritage we have suffered from our past generations.

I am Glorianna, the daughter of Monica, the granddaughter of Sonia, the great-granddaughter of Guillermina, the great-great-granddaughter of Ofelia, and the great-great-great-granddaughter of Herminia.

What is not named doesn’t exist, our existence is resistance.