Celebrating International Woman’s Day in Peru

A Northumbria academic is helping celebrate International Women’s Day with a unique photography exhibition in Peru.

The exhibition, organised by Dr Katy Jenkins from Social Sciences, launches today (Thursday 8 March) to coincide with this year’s International Women’s Day. Organised by Katy as part of her Leverhulme Fellowship research, the exhibition will showcase 30 photos taken by women living in Cajamarca, Peru, alongside poems or narratives explaining why they took the pictures and what each image represents to them.

The photos will be unveiled in the Pasaje de la Cultura, a pedestrianised street off the main square in Cajamarca, on International Women’s Day itself, and will then move to Casa de Cultura from March 9 to March 15. Katy, a member of Northumbria’s Centre for International Development, worked closely with the women to collate the exhibition as part of her Leverhulme research. The photos all respond to the question of what does ‘Development’ means in the context of living with actual and future large-scale extractive projects.

She said: “This exhibition is the culmination of a year of working with a group of 12 women from three local women’s organisations in the region of Cajamarca.

“It is important in providing a space for their perspectives on ‘Development’ to be shared with a public audience and wide range of stakeholders.

“Many of these women had never previously used a camera, and the exhibition is an opportunity to showcase their thoughtful and creative reflections on what Development means to them in the context of living with large scale resource extraction projects.” 

Northumbria’s Centre for International Development is a dynamic group, bringing together academics, practitioners and students on a wide range of issues. These include global poverty and inequality, and the policies, practices and approaches that seek to address it. The centre’s specialist areas of focus include governance, environmental resources and sustainability, volunteering, activism and civil society, participatory design and digital civics.

Meanwhile in Newcastle, Northumbria academic Dr Sarah Ralph has helped organise a series of events for International Women’s Day, as part of this year’s Women’s 100 group events taking place across the city to mark the 100-anniversary of women’s suffrage.  Dr Ralph is the University’s lead representative for the Women’s 100 group (which organised the events above). The group’s other members are drawn from Newcastle City Council, Newcastle University, Newcastle CVS, Central Library, and Tyne and Wear Museums.

Today’s events for International Women’s Day include:

Knicker Revolution: Pop Up Creative Art event 8 March 1-2pm Grey’s Monument

‘This Girl Can’ Newcastle 5k walk/run/cycle 8 March 5.30pm-8pm Exhibition Park (Wylam Brewery meet up)

‘Yes We Can’ - Older Women Active Age – Engaging short film about older women and active life 8 March 3pm

5-6pm Exhibition Park (Wylam Brewery), Bewick Hall, City Library 

Alongside these events, Northumbria academics Dr Rosie White, Dr Mel Waters and Dr Victoria Bazin have also been presenting a season of screenings at Tyneside Cinema for International Women's Day.