Feminism as Celebration: Photography and Abortion Activism in Argentina

In 2018, the legal abortion bill was voted on – and rejected – in Congress for the first time in the history of Argentina, before finally being approved during a second vote in 2020. Nevertheless, 2018 was a historical year of feminist popular mobilisation, which gained momentum around the vote for legal abortion. Demonstrations, artistic interventions, and photographs proliferated during this time. This article explores the changing face of the Argentine feminist movement through the photographic practice that surrounded the widespread activism for the right to abortion. Specifically, I analyse Sub Coop’s digital photozine Marea verde to explore how this photographic essay was curated to upheld a feminism that is centred on notions of desire and celebration. To approach this material, I consider the solidarities between the feminist movement and the abortion campaign, and the common discursive frameworks mobilised around the right to abortion. This piece argues that Marea verde created a narrative where experiences of victimhood, which undeniably exist around the issue of abortion, are largely de-emphasised in order to materialise the feminist world that activists seek to construct.