The photographs for Mujeres Presas con sus Hijos [Women in Prison with their Children] were taken in Jail Number 8 of Los Hornos, La Plata. For a year, I visited the facility every week to photograph female prisoners with their children. Argentina is one of the few countries in which an accused or indicted woman has the right to be with her children until they are two years old. I soon understood that my ideas of the situation were too romantic: being in prison goes beyond being there with a child or not. While it may be important for the women, the children sharing cells with their mothers play a secondary and silent role. Some of them are loved and cared for, others are mistreated." Lestido's photographs convey the complexities of introducing motherhood to prison life. Born in Buenos Aires in 1955, Adriana Lestido studied photography at the Escuela de Arte Fotográfico y Técnicas Visuales of Avellaneda from 1979 to 1982. After working as a photojournalist for the newspaper La Voz and for DyN agency, she now teaches photography and pursues her own projects, which have included studies on high-risk pregnancies and adolescent mothers. The Victor and Erna Hasselblad Foundation awarded her a fellowship in 1991. In 1995 she received a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation. Back to Main Page Next Artist Previous Artist

Untitled, from the series Mujeres Presas con sus Hijos [Women in Prison with their Children]. Gelatin silver prints.