In August 2017, peace activists representative of seven initiatives from Peru and seven initiatives from Colombia gathered in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, to discuss the ways in which they had used art and creativity to tell stories about the history of conflict and war in their countries. Together, we built a space for knowledge exchange and networking between local practitioners who have been on the front line of the peace movement, in order to understand the potential of local and critical narratives in the construction of peace.
The methodology of the Peace Festivals has as a starting point that the activists are the ones who know most about creativity, memory, and peacebuilding. So, we start by shaping the collective space with rules that we define together. Every day we fill the physical space with the samples that each group brings from its own history, with the conversations we hold, and with the notes, drawings, paintings, embroidery, and collages that we produce. There are moments when each group makes us part of their experiences and methodologies, and there are moments when together, we create something new. All these feeds emotions, affections, dialogue, and reflection that sometimes happens in a collective and other times in the margins.
The methodology of the Peace Festivals has as a starting point that the activists are the ones who know most about creativity, memory, and peacebuilding. So, we start by shaping the collective space with rules that we define together. Every day we fill the physical space with the samples that each group brings from its own history, with the conversations we hold, and with the notes, drawings, paintings, embroidery, and collages that we produce. There are moments when each group makes us part of their experiences and methodologies, and there are moments when together, we create something new. All these feeds emotions, affections, dialogue, and reflection that sometimes happens in a collective and other times in the margins.
The first festival produced a printed brochure with photos and a brief description of each group and initiative that participated in 2017. This booklet contains their contacts allowing us to get to know each other better and to disseminate our work experiences from Peru and Colombia.
Download brochure
During the Festivals, we aim to produce art pieces collectively. Based on the exchange of experiences and dialogue of the previous days, the groups work hands-on to produce their art pieces where they re-work their ideas and ideals to re-present them to others sharing the same festival space and to a wider audience outside the festivals. From Cartagena, we showcase the “mantas” made by all the groups and also one of the groups’ drawings about memory as a human body.
About Peace Festival
Festival Cartagena Colombia
Festival Ayacucho Perú
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