Norma Esther Andrade

Norma Esther Andrade founded Nuestra Hijas de Regreso a Casa (NHRC) [May our Daughters Return Home] in 2001 in response to the femicides - the intentional murder of women for being women - and disappearances of women and girls of Ciudad Juarez, México. One of the murdered includes her own daughter. For her activism, Norma Esther Andrade was shot five times in the shoulder and hand by an unidentified gunman outside of her home in Ciudad Juarez in December, 2011. On February 3rd, 2012, Andrade was attacked again, this time outside her home in the relative safety of Mexico City. In making this portrait, I hope to bring attention to these femicides [that continue in Ciudad Juarez and which are also on the rise in places like Estado de México (Mexico State) and other southern states] as well as to the precarious condition of Mexican activists and journalists whose government is unable and unwilling to protect them.