RE
SE
ARCH
THE RESULTS OF THE NO
in the peace plebiscite on October 2 in 2016, marked a pivotal moment.
Maybe that’s when this research began. Just over 13 million Colombians voted for yes or no. However, more than 21 million didn’t vote. They, the non-voters, shouted a deafening silence, expressing their existence by becoming invisible.
It was that sense of misunderstanding that ignited an impulse within me; I realized it was essential to engage with the problem to contribute to potential solutions. Thus, my journey began with the construction of a theater in the jungles of Chocó, just months after the signing of the Agreement. Alongside a hundred peace signatories and victims, we embraced art, architecture, dance, and dialogue as the first steps toward rebuilding the territorial fabric torn apart by decades of conflict.
Research is an act of both reason and heart
Over time, I came to understand that the theater by the Curvaradó River was not an isolated entity; it was part of a complex network of territories that demanded me to view them through their interconnections. It was no longer just a single point, but rather the spaces between multiple points that defined a small region in the northwestern part of the country, known as the Bajo Atrato.
Proposing research that explores the emotions manifest in the territories, particularly those associated with the need for collective grieving as a means of healing, represents an effort to uncover alternative frameworks for perceiving, understanding, and feeling territorial phenomena and their potential for transformation after so many years of violence.
This research aims to explore the importance of studying emotions in relation to territories and conflicts.Focusing on the Territorial Expressions of Grieving as a key factor to understand the cultural and spatial transformation in the territories of the Bajo Atrato.
THE
JOUR
NEY
The journey as an event was the primary method for engaging with each location. In these places, a series of cartographic exercises, semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, and photographic and audiovisual participant observations were carried out. This approach transformed listening into the central methodological focus—an empathetic listening that resonates with the emotions of others.
The journey to understanding was not about studying people, but about truly listening to them
Learning to listen to people, to the territories, and to the landscapes that have been culturally shaped by their strip allows us to unveil the other realities that have remained hidden.
work
shops
Workshops on Cartographies of
Emotions
The workshops were designed as cartographic exercises imed at fostering alternative ways of understanding territory through emotions. Key elements such as music, food, conversations, and drawings allowed participants to navigate the imaginaries, memories, and often intangible relationships between the inhabitant and the inhabited.
These workshops took place in four territories of the Bajo Atrato:
AETCR Silver Vidal Mora
Marriaga Swamp
Triganá Bay
SANTA MARÍA DE LA ANTIGUA DEL DARIÉN
The Power of Maps
Each culture has chosen what to
-
name.
-
connect.
-
silence.
- name.
- connect.
- silence.
The lines on maps hold powers that can be deeply revealing. Although each map features recurring elements, they carry different significance. Furthermore, they also represent what is absent, as illustrated by certain cartographies in Curvaradó, Triganá and Gilgal.
The youth of Marriaga and Gilgal conveyed their community's story through movement and music. As their drawings illustrated, the territory is also a body that feels and expresses itself.
While drawing, the adults in Curvaradó and Marriaga shared the history of their community: how they arrived, their relationships with neighbors, their crops, and their aspirations.
The children of Curvaradó, Marriaga, and Triganá depicted what resonates with them, as if to imply that what is not named cannot be inhabited. Their stories emerged not through words, but through play, gestures, and colors.
The Cartographies
Click on the images to zoom in
AETCR SILVER VIDAL MORA
Marriaga Swamp
Triganá Bay
SANTA MARÍA DE LA ANTIGUA DEL DARIÉN
Marriaga Swamp
SANTA MARÍA DE LA ANTIGUA DEL DARIÉN
AETCR SILVER VIDAL MORA
Triganá Bay
Emotions resonate with the territory
Emotions resonate with the binding power of music and the relationships it can foster with bodies; they intertwine with drawings that reveal not only territorial struggles but also the imaginaries and desires to endure.
These cartographies not only mapped nature but also explored the intimate relationship between culture and emotions. They intertwine the fixed and the fluid, the striated and the smooth, expanding the notion of territory to encompass far more than the tangible.
