Memory as Resistance: A Tribute to WHRDs no longer with us
AWID’s Tribute is an art exhibition honouring feminists, women’s rights and social justice activists from around the world who are no longer with us.
In 2020, we are taking a turn
This year’s tribute tells stories and shares narratives about those who co-created feminist realities, have offered visions of alternatives to systems and actors that oppress us, and have proposed new ways of organising, mobilising, fighting, working, living, and learning.
49 new portraits of feminists and Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) are added to the gallery. While many of those we honour have passed away due to old age or illness, too many have been killed as a result of their work and who they are.
This increasing violence (by states, corporations, organized crime, unknown gunmen...) is not only aimed at individual activists but at our joint work and feminist realities.
The stories of activists we honour keep their legacy alive and carry their inspiration forward into our movements’ future work.
The portraits of the 2020 edition are designed by award winning illustrator and animator, Louisa Bertman.
AWID would like to thank the families and organizations who shared their personal stories and contributed to this memorial. We join them in continuing the remarkable work of these activists and WHRDs and forging efforts to ensure justice is achieved in cases that remain in impunity.
“They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.” - Mexican Proverb
The Tribute was first launched in 2012
It took shape with a physical exhibit of portraits and biographies of feminists and activists who passed away at AWID’s 12th International Forum, in Turkey. It now lives as an online gallery, updated every year.
To date, 467 feminists and WHRDs are featured.
Related Content
Seismic shifts: A year of completion, transition and reflection | Annual report 2017

The past five years have been huge for AWID.
We have contributed to some major victories, like expanding the women’s rights funding landscape with ground-breaking, far-reaching research and advocacy. At the same time, we have experienced some devastating setbacks, including the assassination of Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) like Berta Cacares of Honduras, Gauri Lankesh of India and Marielle Franco of Brazil, as well as the rise of anti-rights mobilizing in human rights spaces.
Five years ago, we committed to our movement-building role by producing knowledge on anti-rights movement trends, as well as on issues that feminists often engage with less, like illicit financial flows. We advocated side by side with our movement partners, strengthening young feminist and inter-generational activism, and expanding the holistic protection of WHRDs. As we close out the strategic plan, we are proud of our accomplishments and our growth as an organization. We end 2017 with renewed commitment, insights and learning for the continued struggle ahead!
Ghiwa Sayegh Snippet | AR

غوى صايغ كاتبة كويرية آناركية، وناشرة مستقلة ومؤرشفة. هي المحرّرة المؤسِّسة لمجلّة “كحل” ومؤسِّسة شريكة لـ”منشورات المعرفة التقاطعية”. حصلت على ماجستير في الدراسات الجندرية من جامعة باريس 8 فينسين - سانت دينيس. إنها شغوفة بنظرية الكوير، والمنشورات الدورية العابرة للحدود القومية، والتاريخ المتخيل أو المجهول. أودري لورد وسارة أحمد هما ملهمتاها.
Maria das Dores dos Santos Salvador
Sushmita Banerjee
2020: Annual Report
For many of us, 2020 was an especially challenging year due to the global health pandemic. Feminists and activists rose to the new challenges meeting community needs in innovative ways. Here are 5 highlights of how AWID contributed to feminist co-creation and resistance.
Watch our Annual Report Video below
Chinelo Onwualu Snippet | AR

تشينيلو أونوالو، مستشارة في الشؤون التحرِيرية، مع 10 سنوات من الخبرة في صياغة الاتصالات الاستراتيجية للمنظمات غير الربحية في جميع أنحاء العالم. من بين عملائها منظمة ActionAid Nigeria و BBC World Trust و Open Society Initiative for West Africa و AWID. حائزة على درجة الماجستير في الصحافة من جامعة سيراكيوز. عملت كاتبة ومحررة وباحثة في نيجيريا وكندا والولايات المتحدة. وهي أيضًا محررة في مجلة Anathema والمؤسس المشارك في Omenana، وهي مجلة من قصص الخيال الأفريقي. ظهرت قصصها القصيرة في العديد من المختارات الحائزة على جوائز، ورُشّحت لجوائز الخيال العلمي البريطانية، وجوائز نومو للخيال الأفريقي المضارب، وجائزة يوم القصة الافريقية القصيرة. تشينيلو من نيجيريا لكنها تعيش في تورنتو مع شريكها وطفلها.
Maricela Tombé
Mariel Araya
Isabel Marler
Isabel is a feminist from the United Kingdom with over a decade of experience in feminist responses to fascisms, fundamentalisms, and anti-rights trends. At AWID, her work centers on knowledge-building and has included leading the production of the Rights at Risk series in collaboration with the Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs). She holds a Master’s degree in Gender Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and previously worked with Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML). She is passionate about cross-movement work, movement-centered knowledge-building, and the use of creative expression to disrupt systems of oppression. Outside of work, Isabel is active in various disability justice spaces for collective care, learning, and advocacy.
#MeToo in China Snippet EN
#MeToo in China
#MeToo in China Exhibition was first held in 2019 and toured in 5 cities. The aim of the exhibition is to bring the personal experiences of the victims and activists to greater prominence and, through engagement with these stories, to inspire our audience to join in the fight. The exhibition has itself become a part of the #MeToo struggle—the exhibition has been beset by challenges on its tour throughout China, on more than one occasion even facing closure.
Derya Demirler
Marianne Mesfin Asfaw
Marianne Mesfin Asfaw es una feminista panafricana dedicada a la justicia social y la construcción de comunidad. Es Licenciada en Estudios de Género y Relaciones Internacionales de la Universidad de Columbia Británica (UBC) y posee una maestría en Estudios de Género y Derecho de la Escuela de Estudios Orientales y Africanos de la Universidad de Londres. Anteriormente, trabajó en administración académica y apoyo para estudiantes internacionales. Asimismo, se desempeñó como investigadora y facilitadora en espacios feministas y sin fines de lucro. También ha trabajado como voluntaria en organizaciones no gubernamentales, incluida Plan International, donde cumplió funciones administrativas. Antes de asumir sus funciones actuales, se desempeñó en logística y apoyo administrativo para AWID. Marianne nació en Etiopía, se crió en Ruanda y, actualmente, reside en Tkaronto/Toronto (Canadá). Le encanta leer, viajar y pasar el tiempo con su familia y amistades. En los meses más cálidos, se la puede ver paseando por barrios conocidos y buscando cafés y librerías desconocidas donde pasar el tiempo.
Ika Vantiani Snippet ES
Ika Vantiani
Ika Vantiani es una artista, curadora y artesana de Yakarta, Indonesia. Su obra explora la idea de ser mujer en la sociedad actual, en la cual los medios de comunicación y el consumo están entretejidos. Ika usa la disciplina del collage, y la expande al arte callejero, a talleres e instalaciones. Integra colectivos artísticos tales como Micro Galleries, The Collage Club y It’s In Your Hands Collective.
Montha Chukaew y Pranee Boonrat
Umyra Ahmad
Umyra Ahmad est une féministe malaisienne expérimentée en plaidoyer international et régional et en éducation aux droits humains. Au sein de l'AWID, elle travaille à la promotion des droits liés au genre et à la sexualité à l'ONU. Avant de nous rejoindre, elle était chargée de programme à IWRAW Asie-Pacifique, où elle a aidé des organisations de terrain régionales, nationales et locales à utiliser les mécanismes des organes conventionnels de l'ONU comme outils de redevabilité des États et d'accès à la justice. En Malaisie, elle travaille avec des collectifs queer et de réfugié·e·s, et soutient la coordination de diverses initiatives d'entraide.
Références intéressantes
Découvrez ces projets élaborés par les équipes de l'AWID pour promouvoir le plaidoyer et les perspectives féministes.
Cao Shunli
Sanyu Awori
Sanyu is a Pan-African feminist based in Nairobi, Kenya. She has spent the last decade supporting labour, feminist and human rights movements advocating for corporate accountability, economic justice and gender justice. She has worked with the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, IWRAW Asia Pacific and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. She has a Master’s of Laws in Human Rights Law and a Bachelor’s of Laws from the University of Nottingham. Her writing has been published in the Business and Human Rights Journal, Human Rights Law Review, Open Global Rights, Open Democracy and more. In her free time, she loves walking in the forest and chasing butterflies.
Snippet The revolution will be feminist_Fest (EN)
Plenary session:
The revolution will be feminist—or it won’t be a revolution
Manal Tamimi Palestine
Bubulina Moreno, Colombia
Karolina Więckiewicz, Poland
Anwulika Ngozi Okonjo, Nigeria