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STATISTICS:
According to a November 2005 AC Nielsen global survey of 21000 consumers in 42 countries, 70 % of Russian Internet users claimed to spend their spare funds on new clothes.
According to a 2005 Oxfam report that analyzed the impact of the second hand clothing trade on developing countries, 95 % of Ghanaians both in urban and rural areas consumed secondhand, or used clothing.
Mayan Women
Andrea Aragón
GuatemalaGALLERYCONVERSATION
At the age of 35, I finally became conscious of the country where I live, of why things are the way they are, and why there is so much social division and violence.

My photographs try to depict Guatemala that is both painful and endearing: Guatemala that inspires me to be curious, to question and break down my Creole woman paradigms.

I was invited to photograph a group of Kaqlá (rainbow) Mayan women. The photo session started with a prayer, invoking the elements and inviting the spirits of wise grandmothers to accompany us.

Then the women took off their beautifully hand-woven clothes, created with incomparable pride. Each outfit was different and reflected their village of origin. Right before me, they first donned and then took off these clothes they had inherited from their ancestors.

Each outfit is loaded with meaning: some speak of slavery imposed by the Spanish conquerors, others are the primary means of expression for these women. These clothes are also why they are discriminated in public.

Many women refuse to wear these outfits because they are viewed as inferior by the rest of society. Other women wear them as a means of resistance towards changing times. Now only women wear traditional outfits; most men, with the exception of few elders, don't anymore.

Their outfit is their pride and their prison. It's their identity as well as their burden.

That day, I accompanied them in their pain and laughter. We danced, cried, and constructed thousands of photos for the "Mayan Women" series. Later when we looked at the photos together, I realized that I was jealous of not being born among them.

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Brenda Jiménez
Mexico
Latest Comment
I read a few post and they all got to me in different levels, some made me smile, some think about the culture and country i live in: they made me realize how every day mexican woman try to look more and more americanized or european, but...
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 Laila Gabriela Ortiz Solis
Mexico
   
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