Altar: Remembering the Missing Women of Ciudad Juárez - Pavithra Prabhu

Altar: Remembering the Missing Women of Ciudad Juárez

My name is Pavithra Prabhu. My altar is honoring the women of who went missing and were murdered in  Ciudad Juárez. The photo I have used is to honor Dana Lizeth Lozano Chavez who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in Juarez, Mexico at the age of 18.

The flowers, which represent earth, symbolize the women’s beautiful souls that also touched and graced the earth.

The candles symbolize hope, something which I want the families of the missing women to have. Moreover, I wanted the candles to act as a ‘guiding light’ to the wandering spirits of the young girls, so they can safely go to the afterlife. 

The glass of water is representative of quenching the thirst of the deceased, while also bringing attention to the efforts put together by the families of the missing women. Often, families would organize search parties to scour the desert. This artifact is symbolic of giving them a glass of water after they spent hours under the hot sun.

In Senorita Extraviada, a mother talked about how she believed that her daughter’s parakeet birds knew about her daughter’s murder (Senorita Extraviada, 26:00 – 27:10); the dream-catcher’s feathers are symbolic of the parakeets’. Moreover, a dream catcher brings good luck; similarly, I wish the souls of the women good luck in their journey to the afterlife.