The Pink Crosses - Disposable women
Installation by Irene Simmons, USA
The crosses and dresses are to remind us about the murder of women taking place in
Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, a city known as “the city of the dead girls”. In 10 years almost
400 women have been murdered in this city on the border between Mexico and El Paso,
USA. And the killings continue. The typical age of the victims is around 16 years old and
all of them were poor. More than a third of the women were raped before they were
killed. Sometimes the murderer left a signature; a breast or a nipple sliced off. The
bodies were then discarded in the desert. Women are today terrified to go out, day or
night, reminded of danger by the pink crosses marking places where bodies were found.
The installation is to be seen as a symbol for all the young women in the world who every
day gets abused, raped and sold.