Antonella poses for her photograph in the kitchen at home, while in strict lockdown in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the day she made her promise not to cut her hair till she could resume person-to-person classes.
2022 Photo Contest, South America, Stories

The Promise

Photographer

Irina Werning

Pulitzer Center
14 August, 2020

Antonella poses for her photograph in the kitchen at home, while in strict lockdown in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the day she made her promise not to cut her hair till she could resume person-to-person classes.

In August 2020, Antonella (12), who lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, vowed to cut her long hair only when she could resume in-person classes at school, which had been suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Antonella said she was offering up her most precious treasure in exchange for her school life back. Her hair was her identity. She felt she lost her identity without school, and said: “When I finally go back to school they will know I’m a different person, I feel like a different person.” In March 2020, the Argentine government had closed schools across the country in a move to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Around 10.5 million young students experienced disruptions to their education. Antonella’s school did not fully reopen until September 2021. She cut her hair on 25 September 2021, on the weekend before she returned to classes.

At least 463 million children worldwide were unable to access remote learning in 2020 when schools across the globe closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, according to UNICEF. The organization also found that by February 2021 schools in Central and South America and the Caribbean had experienced the world’s longest lockdown. Learning experiences were very much affected by households’ access to technology, internet access, and the availability and ability of parents to provide at-home schooling, with children from low-income households often being impacted the most. A UNICEF poll also indicated that the school closures had an effect on mental health in the region, with students reporting issues with anxiety, depression, and lowered motivation. In Argentina, the lockdowns further disrupted an education system already facing structural issues and issues of economic disparity.

The photographer met Antonella in the course of a long-term project researching and photographing women with long hair. As a result of Antonella’s vow, she refocused the project to tell the story of a crisis in education, and of young students’ lives in lockdown.


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Irina Werning
About the photographer

Irina Werning is a freelance photojournalist who focuses on personal long-term projects. She is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Werning has a bachelor's degree in economics, a master's degree in history (Buenos Aires) and a master's in photojournalism (London). She won the Ian Parry Scholarship (The...

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Jury comment

The Promise offers an alternative, refreshing perspective of the challenges of the COVID-19 lockdowns in South America. The project's many layers address the long-term effects of the pandemic on children, and calls into question how children can engage in demanding equal access to education. The photographer looks beyond the narrative of victimhood and approaches the issue in a positive and uplifting manner. She highlights the young girl's creative and personal form of resistance in a way that transcends cultural boundaries and connects to diverse meanings of hair around the world.