ROME – A photography exhibition, Women’s Cry, which showcases the suffering of women around the world, opened on Tuesday in Saint Peter’s Square, exhibition directors said at a press conference on Tuesday. 

 The exhibition, which is made up of 26 photos taken by eight photographers, will be on display until May 29 in the left colonnade of Saint Peter’s Square and aims to help people to rediscover themselves as sisters and brothers as part of the same destiny. 

 Each image takes the viewer into the world of strong and fragile women, carrying enormous burdens, but telling of their beauty.

 The photographs are accompanied by Pope Francis’ words on “fraternity and social friendship” from his Fratelli Tutti. 

 Dr. Lia Giovanazzi Beltrami, the curator of the exhibition, explained that the idea for Women’s Cry came from the “Emotions to Generate Change” concept in which “art touches the deepest emotions and leads to personal and social change.”

 “With the World Women’s Observatory, we set out to find the right shots, met many of the women portrayed and tried to tell their stories, from Amazonia to Bangladesh, from Turkey to Togo, from Greece to the Ukrainian border,” Beltrami continued. 

 “Each shot shows us suffering but carries within it a profound hope.”

 Dr. Paolo Ruffini, the prefect of the Holy See Dicastery for Communication, explained that the photographs which capture the suffering of women, “succeed in looking within us, in opening our eyes to our heart, in transforming us by revealing the secret of seeing beyond appearance.”

 “The exhibition asks us to look at the world through their eyes. And to look within ourselves as well. Women and men of communication, we all often wonder how it is possible not to see, to pass heedlessly by beauty, and by sorrow, without being touched by it.”

 Ruffini went on to explain that the photographs that make up Women’s Cry have the strength and power to “demand change.”

 “They challenge us, they offer no answers. But they confront us with our blindness. They tear at the armour of hypocrisy that envelops us. They leave us speechless but changed.”

 Dr. Maria Lia Zervino, President General of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations, highlighted that the exhibition is a sign of how the Church today wants to embrace women. 

 “Working together with the Dicastery for Communication, we realised that these 26 photographs of women, from different peripheries of the planet, with their actions and resilience, mirror phrases from Pope Francis’ Fratelli Tutti,” Zervino commented. 

 “So maybe, Women’s Cry can generate a transformational synergy which has human brotherhood as its horizon.”

 The organisers hope to make Women’s Cry accessible across the world with the aim of bringing the exhibition to the Venice and Cannes film festivals as well as the UN General Assembly in New York City. 

 The exhibition will run until May 29 and is free to access. 

cw