Women behind the lens: a moment of tenderness in a violent world

‘During the day, I think everything is fine but at night I realise that something in me broke and I cannot sleep because I have nightmares that I am in Venezuela in the streets again or that I am walking aimlessly.’ Photograph: Daniela Rivera Antara

A few weeks after I returned to Peru in 2019, I read about the high numbers of femicides and sexual assaults that had occurred that year. The statistics didn’t include Venezuelan migrant women.

I knew I wanted to photograph this community without focusing on the violence that had become too common in their lives; it seemed unnecessary and traumatising. I also didn’t want to produce the same images we regularly see of migration.