PhD Researcher Tallulah Lines

Posted on 19 July 2024

Two published articles for Tallulah

photo of Tallulah Lines

PhD researcher Tallulah Lines has had two articles published recently.

The first article "Portraits of feminicide: mural painting as protection among migrant women in Quintana Roo, Mexico" is published on the online Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

Abstract:

What does it mean to come together as a group of migrant women, to paint the face of a murdered woman, on the wall of a building in a town that was only temporarily her home? And, who does it have meaning for? In this paper, I interrogate this act as a participant in Las RestaurAmoras, the feminist collective responsible for painting murals of victims of feminicide in Quintana Roo, Mexico, in 2021. I argue that the physical and emotional conditions involved in painting the murals caused members of Las RestaurAmoras to forge a deeper connection with each other and the deceased women they painted. This emphasised sameness and belonging between migrant women, both living and deceased. As finished artefacts, I suggest that, as memorialisation, the murals challenge harmful discourse and practice that invisibilises migrant women’s lives and the violence they experience. The murals are a reminder and a demand that femicidal violence must be dealt with urgently. I argue that connection among (migrant) women and emphasising the importance of the lives of (migrant) victims of feminicide are key elements in protection for women in places with high rates of gender-based violence and impunity, in this case, Quintana Roo.

The second article is called "Visual Narratives of Care and Reproduction in Forced Migration: Women Displaced from Venezuela to Brazil" and is on the online journal Bulletin of Latin American Research (BLAR).

This article was co-authored by Tallulah, Professor Jean Grugel, Bruna Curcio, Pia Riggirozzi, and Natalia Cintra.

Abstract:

Migration is deeply gendered, yet little is known about the lived experiences of displaced women or how they manage their reproductive health challenges. Here, we explore the meaning of sexual and reproductive health for displaced Venezuelan women in Brazil, using photovoice. This methodology revealed that women interpret ‘sexual and reproductive health’ in ways that go beyond medicalised understandings and include concerns more usually associated with ‘social reproduction’ or care work. Caring, for Venezuelan migrant women, is complex: many take comfort from their roles as carers, but they also experience depletion and anxiety. Our research suggests the need for wider understandings of what reproductive health in displacement means and for support for migrant women that goes beyond addressing their biological reproductive roles.