honorable mention
Monse Guajardo united states
Photo © Monse Guajardo
title
Mantay
Since 2016, Mantay has provided shelter for 159 mothers aged 11 to 18, who were placed there as a protective measure due to being victims of sexual abuse and violence, as requested by state entities such as the family prosecutor's office and investigation unit. It offers crucial elements for a stable life, including accommodation, food, clothing, healthcare, therapy, motherhood training, and secondary education. What sets Mantay apart is its innovative approach to breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty, inadequate education, and unemployment resulting from early pregnancies.
The program includes vocational training in artisan crafts such as floral design, ceramics, leatherwork, and jewelry with Peruvian designs. The girls learn from local masters in workshop studios behind the Mantay home. When they turn 18, they must transition out of the house to make space for other young mothers in need. Through ongoing guidance, they can live independently with their child in nearby apartments or return to their families if deemed safe by social services. Furthermore, the girls have opportunities for well-paying jobs at the workshop studios, where the handcrafted products are sold at Mantay Gallery stores in Cusco. Revenue generated from these sales helps support the home, making it the only one of its kind in the country.
region. In the 6 years since picking up a camera, she’s focused on portrait and editorial
photography professionally, while creating documentary narratives in her personal practice. The duality in her upbringing has characterized her photographic approach and been an underlying motivation for the stories she captures. She is often inspired by Mexico's nature, colors, textures, and domestic scenes. Monse Guajardo's affinity to photography is forged by an interest in narratives as explorations of people's authentic emotions, typically in relation to their environments and personal turmoils. Through images, color, and, oftentimes, artifacts collaged physically on print, she seeks to explore raw emotions in her subjects. With a focus on portrait and documentary photography styles, Monse creates compelling imagery that plays with the interconnection between these two genres. Monse’s photographs have been exhibited in Texas and were recently awarded the 22nd Julia Margaret Cameron Award in three different categories, with several works to be exhibited in Barcelona, Spain, in April 2025. Her work has been published in The Guardian, Dazed Magazine, and Pitchfork.
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entry description
This series focuses on Casa Mantay, an asylum home in Cusco, Peru, that supports underage mothers by providing education and tools to build better futures for themselves and their children. Through intimate moments capturing their day-to-day lives, it showcases the resilience and transformation of the girls within the healing environment of Casa Mantay.Since 2016, Mantay has provided shelter for 159 mothers aged 11 to 18, who were placed there as a protective measure due to being victims of sexual abuse and violence, as requested by state entities such as the family prosecutor's office and investigation unit. It offers crucial elements for a stable life, including accommodation, food, clothing, healthcare, therapy, motherhood training, and secondary education. What sets Mantay apart is its innovative approach to breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty, inadequate education, and unemployment resulting from early pregnancies.
The program includes vocational training in artisan crafts such as floral design, ceramics, leatherwork, and jewelry with Peruvian designs. The girls learn from local masters in workshop studios behind the Mantay home. When they turn 18, they must transition out of the house to make space for other young mothers in need. Through ongoing guidance, they can live independently with their child in nearby apartments or return to their families if deemed safe by social services. Furthermore, the girls have opportunities for well-paying jobs at the workshop studios, where the handcrafted products are sold at Mantay Gallery stores in Cusco. Revenue generated from these sales helps support the home, making it the only one of its kind in the country.
about the photographer
Monse Guajardo is a Mexican-American photographer based in the United States/Mexico borderregion. In the 6 years since picking up a camera, she’s focused on portrait and editorial
photography professionally, while creating documentary narratives in her personal practice. The duality in her upbringing has characterized her photographic approach and been an underlying motivation for the stories she captures. She is often inspired by Mexico's nature, colors, textures, and domestic scenes. Monse Guajardo's affinity to photography is forged by an interest in narratives as explorations of people's authentic emotions, typically in relation to their environments and personal turmoils. Through images, color, and, oftentimes, artifacts collaged physically on print, she seeks to explore raw emotions in her subjects. With a focus on portrait and documentary photography styles, Monse creates compelling imagery that plays with the interconnection between these two genres. Monse’s photographs have been exhibited in Texas and were recently awarded the 22nd Julia Margaret Cameron Award in three different categories, with several works to be exhibited in Barcelona, Spain, in April 2025. Her work has been published in The Guardian, Dazed Magazine, and Pitchfork.
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