Women’s Work: Photographers of the Sandinista Revolution

Abstract

This article focuses on the early careers of Margarita Montealegre and Claudia Gordillo, both of whom produced substantial photographic documentation of Nicaragua during the Sandinista Revolution (1978–1990). Working around the ideological strictures of that moment, I propose reading their work against inherited notions on how political imagery should operate in a revolutionary context. Rejecting the demand for sensationalist images, Montealegre and Gordillo turned their gaze toward fellow citizens, using the camera as a means to observe Nicaraguan society up-close. Aesthetically and politically, each pursued different, yet intersecting directions in their work, exploring how revolutionary ideals, and social change intertwined. The Revolution marked a moment of profound historic change, whereby identities were shaped and political imaginaries formed in ways that remain consequential to date. Revisiting these photographers’ archives now, across the span of four decades, reveals previously overlooked contingent details and an ample range of interpretative possibilities.