The exhibition Retratar para resistir arrives in Lanzarote after showing in Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura, offering a visual reflection on gender, diversity and the inequalities that run through the lives of many women. The show opens on Wednesday 8 July at 19:00 at the Centro Sociocultural de La Vega in Arrecife, where it will remain open until 28 August with free admission.
The initiative comes out of the Equality and Diversity programme of the Instituto Canario de Desarrollo Cultural (ICDC) and is the result of a series of workshops held in late 2025 across different islands of the Archipelago. Through them, the participants reflected on issues such as aesthetic and social pressure, violence, invisibility, lack of time and the overload of responsibilities, later turning those experiences into photographic images.
Under its full title, Retratar para resistir: Fotografía participativa con enfoque de género e interculturalidad, the exhibition brings together a collection of works offering a critical take on the representation of the body, identity and diversity. Each photograph grows out of the concerns, emotions and lived experiences shared during the workshops, proposing new ways for visitors to interpret reality and question traditional narratives.
The workshops were conceived as safe spaces for women and gender-dissident people and were led by professionals Asiria Álvarez, Nadia Martín and Adriana Sandec, who work across photography, design, journalism and the visual arts. The project champions participatory photography as a tool for expression, reflection and social transformation.
Beyond its artistic dimension, the initiative seeks to strengthen the cultural fabric of the islands and encourage dialogue with the community through works that make usually overlooked stories and perspectives visible, promoting a more inclusive and diverse outlook.