September 14th – 2013 @ 8:00
The Malaya Lola Project
The Malaya Lola Project consists of portraits of 60 women who were raped repeatedly for a day and a night on November 23, 1944 when their Philippine village, Mapanique in Pampanga Province, was attacked by the Japanese. The youngest victim was only 8 years. Prior to being raped, the women and girls were forced to watch the men tortured and murdered. The entire village was then torched and razed to the ground. The women organized themselves into a group in 1996 to publicize the history and to pressure the Japanese government to give them an apology and legal reparations for their suffering. In 2006, Terry Berkowitz photographed the 60 remaining Lolas. The portraits have been shown in Manila and in Madrid. This is the first time they will be exhibited in the US.
The ultimate goal of The Malaya Lola Project is to raise awareness and to pressure the Japanese to respond to the requests of these women.
Terry Berkowitz