Miss Landmine: Beauty Pageant for Angolan Women Mutilated by Mines

By Alex in Art, Politics, Weapons & War on Nov 18, 2007 at 3:43 am

After being ravaged by years of civil war, Angola is littered with thousands of landmines all over the country. In 23 years, over 80,000 people had died or lost limbs due to one wrong step.

To call attention to this problem and to raise funds to eliminate landmines, Norwegian artist Morten Traavik launched a "beauty pageant" called Miss Landmine, where 10 women competed for the title of most beautiful mutilated Angolan woman, and the first prize of a leg prosthesis.

International aid agencies, however, were not amused – they had called it a "freakshow."

Link – via Invisible Red

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sindhu
Nov 18th, 2007 at 5:55 am
thailand does this I am Fat beauty paegant every year, to save elephants from landmines, its well supported there. its really a pity that big names like those organizations powered by Donald trump only want to do charity (really i dont get to hear that part much either) using the a Barbie doll… they are all a big bunch of publicity hungry capitalists.
Holly
Nov 18th, 2007 at 7:28 am
Maybe a “freakshow” by Hollywood standards… which is a freakshow in itself. I think this is a great idea. Everyone is beautiful, and these women (and others who suffer any kind of ailment) have been stripped of that title by the poparazzi and our ridiculous social standards. Good for them for entering a beauty contest. They may not have all their limbs, but they at least have their pride. I’m going to Hell for saying that…
somebody
Nov 18th, 2007 at 9:47 am
So the ugly don’t deserve prosthetics ?
Tempscire
Nov 18th, 2007 at 10:36 am
What a nifty idea. Shame on the “international aid agencies.” I’m sure those women love being told they’re freaks.
Miss Cellania
Nov 18th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Amputation doesn’t make you a freak, especially when it’s so tragically common. And missing a limb doesn’t make you ugly. Cheers to these beautiful women. I’m sure even “ugly folks” who need prosthetics will benefit from this awareness campaign.
L
Nov 18th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
If it’s that common, how is it a “freak show”? Doesn’t the term “freak” usually imply something rare?
dollyllama
Nov 18th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Hmmm, so here we have real people. Not airbrushed, photoshopped, taped, trained, practiced or pampered. They lived through tragedy and trauma and came out smiling. Now tell me what is more beautiful than that?
jenny
Nov 18th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
seriously,this is an amazing idea
freak show? wow.. stupid i love the idea
Vonskippy
Nov 18th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
80,000 deaths / 23 years = 3,478 deaths per year.

It’s a raging pandemic I tell you. PANIC NOW.
Alex
Nov 19th, 2007 at 3:26 am
That’s still a LOT of people dead or mutilated by land mines. If we count 3,478 deaths per year (which is an upper limit since many don’t actually die after stepping on a mine) that’s about 1% of all deaths in Angola.

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