Medellín, Colombia (Antioquia)

Due to Medellín is in a valley it was left isolated for over 300 years, which I found to be crazy, but with the railroad they were able to connect people to each other. With the use of the mountains, trafficking became big and this was the start of gangs, who caused a lot of violence within the city and made it the most dangerous place in the world. This is interesting because even through the transformation of the city, people and the media still have a perception that Medellín is not safe and only bad things happen there. For example, before coming to Colombia people would tell me “be careful”, “is that a good idea”, “I heard people get kidnapped there”, but I knew a lot of this was due to a lack of knowledge of the country’s evolution. I understood that staying in a constant state of fear is bad especially without educating myself is foolish, which is why I choose to educate myself and learn about the Colombia ad travel there because I knew that it had a rich culture and it made me want to travel there even more and experiences the diversity and learning that it had to offer.

Meeting with Grey who works with ex-combatants was amazing. The fact that she was able to create this project that provided a space for ex-combatants to tell their stories and experiences with the conflict within Colombia was really important and impactful. This is important because people often forget that people who are in guerilla groups are people too and they have stories just like those who have fallen victim to the conflict. Just because they are in these groups does not me it was by choice and most of the time joining is the only way for them to survive. Projects like this are moving Colombia in the right direction to help ex-combatants re-entering society in a productive and informative way for the country to understand their point of views and hopefully give them space to be a part of society. With the use of textiles and weaving these ex-combatants are able to get a sense of hope for their futures and put their past behind them.

Bogotá, Colombia (La Calandria)

Learning about the city and the history behind its existence was important to understand why people use the arts as a form of resistance. The mixture of diversity of the country that made it rich in knowledge but is one of the big problems with the country as well. This often bleeds into the diversity of musical genres throughout the country. The bio-diversity with the country is something that makes Colombia a rich place, but it caused a lot of division between different parts of the country due to the Andes, which made communication hard and forced separation between them and allowed corruption to happen.

            Visiting the Museo Claustro D San Agustín was really impactful for me because it is a place that houses photos and documents that captures pivotal moments in Colombia’s history. Which are needed because without documentation or record of these moments they would be brushed under the rug and silenced. Which would allow for the continuation of destruction to these diverse communities. But with these tangible pieces of oppression people are able to speak to the injustice and this is often done through protest and artistic expression, which allows them to fight for their rights and reinforce their culture and not let the powers at play dictate the way they should live and express themselves to align with the ideologies of those powers.

            For me meeting LAP 24/7, which are a musical group was really cool and impactful for me and I had a great time listening to their music. Being able to hear their stories and gain an understanding of the struggles of people who are victims of the violence go through was really powerful. In the cases of Juan and Andres they were able to make it out of their hard situations using music as a tool to facilitate that. The way they use their life experiences to curate music that is critical of their environment I think is an important part of resistance to show people that their stories and struggles won’t be silenced. This shows other kids like themselves that there is another option and that they don’t have to fall into the traps of the streets (drugs/ gangs). Their use of Hip-Hop in combination of their lyrics is very powerful, captivating and make their mission even more inspiring.