In Argentina, every 24 hours, one woman dies as a victim of gender-based violence. Many of these deaths and physical aggressions have been caused by burns, and the women portrayed here have been burned by their partners.

Due to the increase of femicides, three massive nationwide demonstrations have been coordinated against gender-based violence since 2015, under the slogan #NiUnaMenos – “Not One Woman Less.” Gender violence-related NGOs affirm that “a female is 8 times more likely of being murdered by the people around her, even by someone in her home, than of dying in the hands of a stranger, in a robbery."

These cases usually go unpunished due to the habitual excuses and acquittals of the actual facts that occur in domestic violence. In November 2015, the Nation’s Supreme Court of Justice released the First National Registry of Femicides, recorded by the Argentine courts during 2014.

Burning aims at destroying the body: above all, destroying the skin, the sheath through which the body desires and becomes desirable. These abuses take place, for the most part, at home.

Karina

Maira

At the end of 2011, Maira’s partner, the father of her two children, lit her on fire when they got home from a family party. “I tried to turn out the flames in the shower, but the water was not running,” she recalls . She was at hospital in an induced coma for two months. She underwent 52 reconstructive body surgeries, lost partial vision in right eye and total hearing in left ear. Her aggressor is free.

On September 9, 2013, Patricia’s ex-husband tried to rape her and then lit her on fire.Although her ex-husband was sentenced to 15 years in prison, he still threatens her. The burns affected parts of her neck, chest and back. “When I get out, I’ll kill you”, he said to Patricia.

Sebastian Pani

Sebastian Pani began his photographic training in 1996 at Fotoclub Buenos Aires, then continued in different Institutes and Workshops. He has been trained as a photojournalist at the Association of Graphic Reporters of the Argentine Republic. As a freelance photojournalist he collaborates with different media in Argentina and abroad. As well as for different organizations, like Greenpeace, and many more. Sebastian has been reporting on various topics of general interest in Argentina and countries such as Bolivia, Peru, Brazil and Chile and has had the opportunity to work in the Gaza Strip in the escalating war of 2012 for Argentine media. This year, along with photographer Belen Grosso, they won the second award in the short category in the POY latam for their work on violence against women in Argentina.

Belen Grosso

Belen Grosso began her career in Córdoba Capital (Argentina) as a photographer, she also received a degree in Social Communication in the National University of Cordoba. Years later she moved to Buenos Aires and continued her formation studying with Juan Travnik, Agustina Triquell, Julieta Escardó among others. As a freelance photojournalist she collaborates with different media companies and non governmental organizations in Argentina . Her pictures have appeared in many different books. Such as #NIUNAMENOS (Paula Rodriguez edit. Planeta), Boltanski en Buenos Aires (Muntref), and Palacio del agua (Aysa) .