Peruvian Artist Captures Defiant Circle of Naked Swimmers

In March 2023, as Lima grappled with a alarming tide of femicides, Peruvian photographer Ana Elisa Sotelo organized an striking instance of collective resistance. She put out a public invitation calling on women to convene at Playa Agua Dulce, one of the Peruvian capital’s most popular beaches, in the early morning. There, dozens of women shed their swimming attire in the sea, creating a bold unclothed formation whilst kicking and screaming in unity with the casualties of gendered violence. Filmed from the air from the shore, the resulting image—titled Women’s Circle—functioned as a potent statement to sisterhood and rage, a unfiltered visual statement opposing the prevalence of violence taking women’s lives in Peru and further afield.

A Answer Arising from Catastrophe

The placement of Sotelo’s project could not have been more deliberate. In the period before the Women’s Circle performance, Lima experienced a particularly brutal cluster of femicide cases. The city became consumed by anger and a acute sense of despair, yet beneath these darker emotions flowed undercurrents of solidarity and common resolve. Sotelo recognised this moment as an platform to transform the community’s pain and rage into something material and catalytic—a visible embodiment of women’s determination not to be quieted or diminished by violence.

The logistical organisation reflected the gravity of the endeavour. To ensure the event stayed a safe, women-only space, Sotelo kept the location and timing intentionally vague, disclosing details only to participants through a private WhatsApp group the preceding day. This security measure was crucial; the women required protected and unobserved by unwanted eyes. Collaborating artist Ana De Orbegoso designed vests bearing “Alive and Fearless,” setting the day’s core principle. Three volunteers stationed themselves on paddleboards to gather swimsuits and offer safety support as the women entered the cold Peruvian waters.

• Public invitation issued through Instagram to swimming community members
• Location disclosed only a day before the event
• Paddleboard volunteers maintained safety throughout the performance
• Drone photography recorded the circle from above the shore

The Display Develops

Thorough Planning for Security and Solidarity

Before dawn broke over Playa Agua Dulce, one of Lima’s most popular public beaches, the participants gathered in hushed anticipation. Sotelo had meticulously orchestrated every detail to ensure the women felt secure and backed throughout the performance. The early timing was deliberately chosen to reduce unnecessary attention, whilst the presence of trained volunteers on paddleboards offered both practical assistance and psychological comfort as the women entered the cold Pacific waters.

The arrangement of the event developed with striking naturalness despite its meticulous preparation. Women entered the sea and discarded their swimsuits in the water, giving them to the paddleboard volunteers who made certain nothing was swept away by the currents. What followed demanded no guidance or rehearsal. Once naked, the circle emerged spontaneously, and the kicking and screaming arose naturally — a unfiltered, spontaneous expression of fury, anguish, and resistance that no degree of organisation could have manufactured.

For approximately twenty minutes, the women remained in the water, swimming freely within their safe perimeter. The drone positioned over the shore captured this extraordinary moment from an aerial perspective, transforming individual acts of courage into a unified visual statement. When they finally returned to shore to reclaim their swimsuits, the atmosphere changed from intensity to jubilation. Grins took the place of shouts as women got ready to go back to their daily routines, carrying with them the deep understanding that they had united against harm and terror.

• Participants gathered before dawn to avoid public attention and disruption
• Trained volunteers placed on paddleboards for protection and swimsuit retrieval
• Women removed swimsuits in water to maintain privacy and autonomy
• Circle arrangement and emotional release occurred naturally without choreography
• 20-minute performance concluded with return to shore and festivities

Chile to Caribbean destinations

What started as a spontaneous collaboration in the frozen waters of Patagonia has developed into a expansive artistic movement extending across multiple continents. Sotelo’s initial vision, developed in 2022 when three women swimmers in Puerto Natales, Chile asked her to record their nude swimming, proved to be merely the opening chapter of a far larger narrative. The project’s success in Chile encouraged the photographer to establish open calls in her home city of Lima, where the response was immediate and overwhelming. Women from varied backgrounds and circumstances recognised in Sotelo’s work a powerful vehicle for reclaiming bodily autonomy and asserting their presence in spaces where they had been made to feel unsafe.

The geographical expansion of Women of the Water reflects both the widespread character of gender-based violence and the global solidarity that unites women in opposition. Following the Lima presentation, Sotelo extended her public invitations to Argentina, the United States, and Barbados, every venue bringing its own cultural context and affective power to the project. These adaptations preserve the fundamental spirit of Sotelo’s artistic vision—exposed forms reimagined as symbols of resilience—whilst responding to local circumstances and communities. The project has evolved into a testament to how creative work can move beyond geographical limits, generating instances of solidarity that address women’s lived realities irrespective of location or linguistic differences.

After Three Years: Has the Momentum Faded?

Since that defiant morning on Playa Agua Dulce in March 2023, the world has pressed forward steadily toward increased danger and instability for women everywhere. Sotelo’s observation, made three years after the Women’s Circle event, carries a grave significance: the world seems harsher now, not safer. The initial euphoria that swept across the beach that day—the smiles, the excitement, the tentative hope—has been tempered by the stark truth that violence against women remains stubbornly endemic across the globe. Yet this recognition does not reduce the significance of what was achieved in those twenty minutes of unified resistance. Rather, it underscores the pressing need of continued artistic resistance and mutual support.

The question of whether momentum has faded is complicated by the nature of activist art itself. Sotelo’s project keeps expanding and evolve, suggesting that the flame lit in Patagonia has not faded away. However, the expansion of Women of the Water globally, whilst testament to its power, also demonstrates a grim truth: there are perpetually new communities of women needing platforms for dissent, always new violations necessitating artistic response. The project’s endurance speaks to both its relevance and the persistent need for such work. In a landscape where femicide rates have not meaningfully declined, where women are silenced and violated, the circle of swimmers remains as vital today as it was three years ago.

The Extended Context of Gender-based Violence

The Lima killings of women that led to the creation of Women’s Circle were not individual occurrences but representative of a systematic phenomenon of gender-motivated harm deeply rooted in Peru and Latin America throughout the continent. Peru regularly features among the countries with the highest femicide rates in the region, with dozens of women killed each year in gender-based killings. This context converts Sotelo’s artistic intervention from simple artistic performance into a immediate reaction to systemic failure—a failure by institutions, the police, and society to keep women safe. The swimming circle thus is no longer simply symbolic but critically important.

• Peru encounters persistent high rates of gender-based violence and femicide
• Institutional failures expose women to deliberate harm and homicide
• Creative opposition proves vital when legal systems prove inadequate