Juliette Pavy: Sony World Photographer of the Year 2024

JUlette Pavy’s documentary series examines the serious and lasting consequences of an involuntary contraception campaign led by Danish authorities in Greenland in the 1960s and 1970s. It examines the Spiral campaigns, in which several thousand Inuit women and girls, some as young as 12, had IUDs implanted without their consent. The project traces the origins of the program to the present day, including the ongoing investigation by the Danish government.

By foregrounding the perspectives of the victims, the narrative structure of Pavy’s project is shaped by difficult and important reflections on the collective trauma experienced by a community. The series uses a variety of photographic formats, from site shots of the town of Nuuk and its clinical spaces to X-ray images and archival photographs of the young women involved, in addition to recent portraits of victims and doctors who worked in Greenland during and after the war. program, and the Danish parliamentarian investigating the Spiral Campaigns today.

Juliette explains how she discovered the story: “I was following the topic of Arctic women in the news, and in the daily press in Brittany I saw a short AFP briefing on this topic. I was very curious and wanted to know more. Because I was already going to Greenland on another assignment, I followed the story further and met the women.”

Between 1966 and 1975, Greenlandic Inuit women were subjected to an involuntary contraceptive program known as the Spiralkampagnen (“spiral campaign”). Under the direction of Danish authorities, nearly 4,500 intrauterine devices, also called intrauterine devices or “coils,” were implanted in Inuit women and girls, some as young as 12 years old. Many of them say that the procedure was carried out without their consent. The campaign was first widely publicized via a Danish podcast in the spring of 2022, and documents now prove that authorities implemented the policy to reduce Inuit population growth. An official investigation has now been opened and will be completed by the end of 2024.

In 2019, Naja Lyberth, a psychologist in Nuuk, told her story to a local newspaper. Following revelations about the existence of a Danish policy of forced contraception, she founded a Facebook group that brought together other victims. “We have the right to own our bodies, and it is our human right to have children,” she said. Lyberth seeks to continue her fight for justice through international human rights organizations.

In May 2022, a Danish journalist, Celine Klint, discovered a document showing that Denmark had implemented a policy of forced contraception for Greenland women in the 1960s and 1970s. These revelations led to an official investigation into the campaign, which started in October 2022 and will run until the end of 2024.

After a medical check at school, one of the victims, Jytte Lyberth, was sent to the hospital and asked to take off her clothes. She was never told what was going to happen. A few months later, she developed severe pain from the IUD and returned to the hospital to have it removed. Since then she has been unable to have children.

In Nuuk itself there are relatively few victims of the Spiral Campaigns compared to the total number of inhabitants. Aviaja Siegstad, who was a gynecologist in the 1990s, thinks this may be due to the capital’s mixed population. Local doctors were also likely to be more resistant to contraceptive policies.

Siegstad regularly saw women with fertility problems, only to discover that – without their knowledge – they had had an IUD or IUD inserted. This happened quite often, but her department attributed it to the work of unscrupulous doctors. They had no idea it was a political choice. She said: “For me, the crime in this is the political decision and the systematic use of prevention to reduce the population.”

These IUDs were far too large and unsuitable for the bodies of young teenage girls. In addition to the pain and bleeding, the coils sometimes caused serious infections that left some victims permanently infertile.

A gynecologist who became head of Maniitsoq village in the 1970s said: “IUDs were what we had, what was available to us… The instruction was from the Danish authority. There was a social problem in Greenland (and) many young women had their first child at the age of 15 or 16. It’s so easy to see that in retrospect. The doctors thought they were doing something good, but it was terribly stupid… I wasn’t a particularly good chef. I do not doubt that. I could have done much better. I regret it today.”

Danish politician Trine Pertou Mach is a member of the left-wing government and responsible for development issues in the Arctic. She is closely following the ongoing investigation. She has made it her role to remind the government that this investigation was promised, and urge them to act on it – in particular by validating the timetable and following the task force’s deadlines.

The birth rate halved in the years following the Spiral Campaigns.

Monica Allende, chair of the jury of the 2024 professional competition, said: “The jury praised Juliette Pavy’s empathetic portrayal of her subjects, capturing them in a way that was both dignified and deeply intimate, highlighting her exceptional talent. Pavy’s dedication to exposing the grim realities faced by marginalized communities, coupled with her compelling storytelling approach, has not only earned her the prestigious recognition of the Sony World Photography Awards, but also underlines the jury’s belief in her potential and the importance of supporting her career trajectory. .”