Objects on display at the Martyr’s Memorial Monument Museum belonging to women who were raped there. The museum originally memorialized the Tigarayan struggles against Ethiopian forces; when war broke out in 2020, Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) turned it into a detention center where Tigrayan women were raped and tortured. Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia.
In 2017, Cinzia Canneri began documenting the experiences of Eritrean women fleeing Eritrea’s repressive government. Since the outbreak of war in the Tigray region of Northern Ethiopia in 2020, her scope has expanded to include the stories of Tigrayan women fleeing from armed invasion. Both groups have been the targets of systematic sexual violence – rape, shooting, torture – that, due to social stigma, limited health facilities, and journalistic access, remains insufficiently reported by news media. By amplifying the stories and voices of the survivors, this project reimagines the idea of resilience as a complex collaborative challenge against pain, trauma, and loss.
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