Colectivo Miradas
Country: Colombia
Participants: Former guerrillas and signatories of the peace agreement
Land tenure, use and distribution are among the main reasons for the beginning and perpetuation of the armed conflict in Colombia. Today, in commemoration of the National Day of Memory and Solidarity with Victims. The land problem in Colombia is a complex issue that requires comprehensive and sustainable solutions.
It is necessary to work towards building a more equitable and just society, where the rights of local communities are respected and land redistribution is promoted. It is also important at a global level that we all become aware and take action to reduce pollution, conserve natural resources and combat climate change to ensure a sustainable future for ourselves and future generations.
© Yira Vélez / Colectivo Miradas, Colombia
Formed in 2021, the Colectivo Miradas is made up of former guerrillas and community photographers from all over the country who have found in photography a tool for reincorporation, reparation, and reconciliation.
After more than 50 years of armed conflict, Colombia is in the process of implementing a historic peace agreement, signed in 2016, between the Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC). The Peace Agreement established a plan for the disarmament, demobilization and collective reincorporation of the members of the FARC. The success of the process of reincorporation of ex-combatants and guerrillas, who are called “signatories of the peace agreement”, is essential for the success of the peace process in general. The ex-guerrillas, some of whom continue to live with their families in some of the 24 former reincorporation sites known as ETCRs spread across the country, face a difficult context for reincorporation, including increased violence, lack of compliance with the peace treaty by the government, the fading of cohesion among the members of the FARC, stigmatization and social rejection.
Colectivo Miradas second documentary photography training workshop, Anorí 2022
© Colectivo Miradas, Colombia
Determined to “change weapons for cameras” and formed by a nucleus of 13 members, the Miradas Collective uses photography to build individual and collective memory, attribute new meanings and support the repair of communities affected by more than 50 years of conflict. All the photographers, some of whom learned photography as members of the FARC’s communications section, are committed to the peace process and want to show the problems facing communities in their areas and celebrate their achievements. Through publications on Instagram with monthly themes and exhibitions, the members of the collective seek to make visible the multiple and diverse processes that are taking place in Colombia around the construction of peace and reconciliation, and embrace peace from multiple perspectives.
In Quibdó, Chocó, 32 women, including signatories and the community, make up the Coorporación de Mujeres Constructoras de Paz y Reconciliación. Their productive project ‘La Rancha de mi Pueblo’ is another form of female empowerment for integral reincorporation.
© @rulo.c5 / Colectivo Miradas, Colombia
In 2021 and 2022, the Colectivo Miradas held two week-long workshops, facilitated by professional photographers and supported by the mission of the European Union Delegation, through the European Peace Fund, the UN Verification Mission, UNDP and Comfama in Colombia, bringing together peace signatories, ex-combatants, their families, community leaders and victims of the conflict. The workshops allowed participants to better understand each other’s experiences, reassess their beliefs about former guerrillas, and develop new connections and narratives that cultivate a collective culture of peace. They also made documentaries about the reality and life of the members of the community in the area. In the coming years, the Miradas Collective hopes to hold more exhibitions and workshops and publish a book.
Since then, the collective has started to travel in many regions of Colombia with their new project ‘Semillas de Paz’ (Seeds of Peace) to run photography and filmmaking workshops. This initiative not only strengthens memorial, peace and, reconciliation processes, but also promotes access to art and culture in territories where these resources are limited.
He is my son, he came with peace, in his eyes I found the hope of a different country and in his smile the commitment so that each of the actions that I carry out in my daily life as a signatory of peace, contribute to building a more just, inclusive and supportive society for him. I want to leave my son a peaceful country.
© Jork Ortiz / Colectivo Miradas, Colombia
‘We are the Colectivo Miradas and eight years ago we decided to exchange guns for cameras, build from love and hope, and reaffirm solidarity and the collective as the only path. Photography as a tool, a bridge and answer for everything’.