Miss Landmine

A norwegian artist named Morten Traavik had this crazy idea after travelling to Angola in 2003, only one year after the end of the war. Landmines were shaping the body of angolans (the country is one of the most heavily mined places in the world) and creating this one-legged angolan we see on TV (and on the videos below), often with a homemade wooden leg to replace the prosthetic limb denied by an incipient health system. Morten Traavik says it was a spontaneous beauty contest being held by teenagers on the streets of Luanda that gave him the idea of Miss Landmine. Combining sweet innocence and harsh reality. Subverting the sexism of this kind of pageants by exposing mutilated bodies. This artistic and humanitarian project (supported by the angolan National Demining Comission) got wide attention from the international media. Last April, Augusta Urica from Luanda and Maria Restino Manuel from Cuanza Sul were the first crowned Miss Landmine (the creators plan to redo the stunt in Cambodja soon). But my personal favorite is Maria de Fátima Conceição, Miss Moxico:

International estimates say there are about 10 million landmines in Angola. The country is slowly but steadily reducing this figure. With precious help from the chinese entrepreneurs, who don't mind sacrifying a few bulldozers (and the occasional worker) in order to satisfy the government's frenzy for reconstruction and thus collect its abundant petrodollars.