“ATRAVESADXS”, a visual project documenting the testimony of family members, siblings and friends of victims in Argentina of gender-based crimes, is transversed in Spanish. Eleonora Ghioldi collected over 70 testimonies of people who have lost a loved one in a femicide. “ATRAVESADXS”, is one of her visual projects, which sheds light on issues that impact women in Latin America as well as the United States.
Ghioldi stated that “ATRAVESADXS” shows that violence doesn’t end with femicide, but continues in many forms.” “From the media aEUR violence that not just re-victimizes victims and blames them, but also the family aEUR to the justice system that is not present in violence prevention but does not accompany families as they seek justice.”
These are collective experiences, not individual ones. These families can continue to fight for justice aEUR by organizing themselves politically, as well as their children who many of them have left behind,” she said.
Natalia Melmann, a 15 year-old Argentine girl, was murdered on February 4, 2001 in Miramar, in the province Buenos Aires. This case was a national sensation. Massive marches were organized to locate Natalia Melmann as soon as possible. Protesters then gathered to demand justice.
Gustavo Melmann is Natalia’s father and he continues to fight for justice more than twenty years later.
Gustavo Melmann aEUR is Natalia Melmann’s father. Natalia Melmann, a 15 year old girl with a bright future, is a fighter and champion at her school. She didn’t want to have children, but she wanted to adopt them as there were too many street children who needed parents. She wanted to become a gynecologist or an obstetrician.
“On February 4, 2001, Buenos Aires police officers seized the woman on Miramar Coast, took her outside of the city, and caused all sorts of pains. They took her life using her shoelace. It took a village to win. All of us went out looking for her. Even though the possibility of Nati returning does not exist, we all continue to fight for her. This is a crucial moment in our country’s history. We are asking for an end to violence against women. We have to look at the history of humanity and see how many men have denied equality to women.
Diana SacayA!n was a prominent activist of the human rights movement, and the fight for recognition and inclusion of the trans community in Argentina. On October 11, 2015, she was assassinated. The Oral Criminal Court No. The Oral Criminal Court No. 4 in Buenos Aires sentenced her murderer. This sentence was the first time that the Argentine justice had described the murder of a transgender person as a hate crime.
This is Say SacayA!n’s complete testimony:
“Diana was murdered by a transfemicide in October 2015. The death of Diana brought us to a place where the Argentine justice has never ruled against trans people’s deaths.
“We were able talk about the structural violence against trans people; we were also able talk about deaths that could have been prevented.” We refer to violent crimes against transgender persons when we talk about homicides. This is because there is a social hatred that has been constructed by the absence of a state and no right to transgender people.
In August 2016, Alicia Vallejos was killed by her partner. Her killer was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2021. The progressive law of the penality framed the sentence. You can apply for parole after 35 years. This process took five years.
MarAa Josefa Valcedo is the mother to Alicia Beatriz Soledad Vallejos.
“I want justice for Alicia, and for many others. Let there be no more Alicias. The judges should do something. They should do something for each mother, each sister, and for every person we have to bury. I want to tell her that she is my best friend and that I miss her every single day. My daughter is my only hope. It was the love of all my life to have her. It is essential that justice is done. “Justice for Alicia Vallejos is what I want, nothing more.”
Marta Ramallo is Johana Ramallo’s mother. She was a victim to human trafficking and femicide.
My daughter vanished on July 26, 2017 from La Plata aEUR from 1st to 63rd streets. A human trafficking network, with the support of the Buenos Aires Police and the DDI for missing persons, made her disappear. Johana disappeared first by a state and then by a network of traffickers. They kept my daughter alive for one year. After a year of searching they finally dismembered my daughter, cut her body into pieces, and returned her to me in pieces. They then threw her in the Palo Blando River in La Plata.
“When we say there is a complicit judiciary it means that it is complicit with the disappearance, the femicides and the deaths of Johana. This is because a state could have prevented the death and disappearances of Johana.
Tehuel, a transgender young man, was last seen in San Vicente (Buenos Aires) on March 11, 2021. Family members strongly criticized the investigation and demanded that authorities investigate the case as a case of human trafficking.
AndrA(c),s de la Torre, Tehuel’s father, asserts that there is not enough evidence for the prosecution to continue the investigation seeking Tehuel’s death.
“Tebu, you’re still my search. I won’t prescribe until I find your. We love you very much.
“My name’s Dora Susana Reyes. Cecilia Gisella BasaldAoa is my oldest daughter. She is my first child of four. Truth be told, she was a fighter and pure soul. That’s why I am most hurt by her loss.
“We will not stop until we find this aEUR,” until the last consequences, my husband and I are going to fight because my daughter’s death was not an accident. There were also other missing women before her. She was killed in Capilla del Monte. Later, there were other disappeared women. This has to stop. Justice must act quickly because there are too many cases involving femicide. We aren’t fighting for my daughter alone, but also for all those who came before her and those who followed her. This cannot happen in this country aEUR”. There is a lot injustice. Justice doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.”
Florencia Bustamante was the sister to Karen Bustamante who was a victim of femicide 2021.
This is Florencia’s complete testimony:
“We learned about Karen’s femicide through the news. My mother was shocked when she saw it. We were left by the state, they let us go, and now we are lost, along with thousands of families. They don’t arrive until the girls have experienced the femicide, and they don’t reach the families even after that. This is because they won’t be able to give our sister back to us. We are not reassured by their efforts. They don’t move as fast as they need to.
“How can it be that a detainee has a legal representative and we, the victims, don’t have one?” Because we don’t have enough money to cover all expenses, we have to wait to see if a lawyer arrives from here. A lawyer is something we cannot live without. How can we possibly not require financial or psychological support? We need it, because we were left in nothingness after what happened. It destroyed us.”
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Ghioldi stated that the portraits are placed in public places, on building facades, with the “intention of crossing the public area and creating a greater awareness about this problem that doesn’t besiege every day more.”
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Ghioldi stated that thinking that gender violence is only a problem for women is a fundamental error on the path to profound social change. “Reparation is impossible without justice.”
You can find more of Eleonora Ghioldi’s work here.
