Photographers Rebecka Bíró (Sweden/Spain) and Victoria Montero (Argentina) have teamed up to create ‘Guerrilleras‘ a documentary and photography project about the experience of women in the guerrilla during the Salvadoran Civil War (1980-1992). Bíró and Montero are using crowdfunding website Verkami to raise funds to cover their living expenses while they finish their project in El Salvador.
They describe their goals for the documentary on Verkami:
We seek to find answers to some questions: How was the women's experience in the war, what was their role in the guerrilla, how did they struggle to survive and protect their families, how did it change the women's paradigm within a patriarchal structure in a traditionally male chauvinist society, what were the consequences and how do they continue their struggle today.
Guerrilleras primarily seeks to be a tool to preserve the historical memory. A material to help and understand the recent history of El Salvador in the context of the armed conflict. An instrument to reflect on the identity of women in the civil war. A sample of the past that is always present and requests not to be forgotten by its’ protagonists.
Bíró and Montero explain that during their visit to El Salvador in 2011 they didn't “discover the best beaches in the world, nor the highest mountains,” but they met a lot of Salvadorans who “filled [their] hearts”:
We met many war victims. The cruelty of their stories, especially considering how little attention they have had in the media, motivated us to pursue a work that emphasizes female identity, the defense of human rights and the recovery of the memory of the people fighting for their emancipation.