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The Creating Safer Space network has brought together people from 70 organisations in 13 countries to better understand unarmed civilian protection and self-protection amidst violent conflict. As the network draws to a close, join us to find out more about our work, to celebrate our achievements and to look ahead!

1.00 – 2.30 pm UTC on Friday 21 February

Register for the Zoom event HERE

Programme:

• Research Findings and Achievements: Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, Nerve Macaspac, Beatriz Arias and Rachel Julian
• Keynote Speech: Rosemary Kabaki, Head of Mission South Sudan, Nonviolent Peaceforce
• Highlights from a selection of Creating Safer Space projects around the world
• Reflections from the audience

Bring a local drink to celebrate!

Further information about the images on the e-flyer:

• Top left: Men in South Sudan illustrating the use of grasses tied together to convey a specific symbolic meaning. When the heads of the grasses are tied together, it symbolises a clash (that there will be fighting). When the heads of the grasses are apart, as the man in the middle demonstrates with his hands, it symbolises that violence will be avoided. Photograph by Haji Elias Hillary as part of the Creating Safer Space project Visualising early warning and preparedness in civilian protection: Investigating local vernaculars of community adaptations to insecurity
• Top centre: Illustration by Wanwisa Intarakanchit, produced as part of the Creating Safer Space project Introducing Unarmed Civilian Protection in Thai Society: Opportunities and Challenges
• Top right: Still from La Fiesta theatre production, Medellin, Colombia, produced as part of the Creating Safer Space project Art that Protects: Contributions of artistic-cultural initiatives to the self-protection strategies of young people and women in the context of the urban conflict in Medellín Photograph by Laura Diosa Vera and Sofia Garcia ‘Ponchis’.
• Centre right: Illustration by Sebastián Bucheli in Civilians Protecting Civilians, produced by the Creating Safer Space project Understanding Community-level Spontaneous Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP): A Comparative Study of Initiatives in South Sudan, Myanmar and Colombia
• Bottom left: Part of a poster produced as part of the Creating Safer Space project The Social Process of Guarantees of Antioquia, Colombia, an experience of unarmed civil protection with indigenous and peasant communities of Bajo Cauca
• Bottom centre: Drawing by a research participant, Jayapura, West Papua, as part of the Creating Safer Space project Civilian (Self-) Protection from Violent Conflict in Papua
• Bottom right: Part of a poster produced as part of the Creating Safer Space project The Social Process of Guarantees of Antioquia, Colombia, an experience of unarmed civil protection with indigenous and peasant communities of Bajo Cauca

The Creating Safer Space project Art that Protects: Networks as strategies for self-protection in the context of urban conflict in the city of Medellín, 2023 has released a series of short films and podcasts. Further background information is available at the bottom of this page in English and Spanish.

Art That Protects and Intersectionality 1: Category Cosmovision – Barrio Comparsa
Arte que protege e interseccionalidad 1: Categoría Cosmovisión – Barrio Comparsa

Art That Protects and Intersectionality 2: Category Age – Robledo Venga Parchemos
Arte que protege e interseccionalidad 2: Categoria Edad – Robledo Venga Parchemos

Art That Protects and Intersectionality 3: Category Socioeconomic Status – Biocomunidad
Arte que protege e interseccionalidad 3: Categoria Estatus Socioeconómico – Biocomunidad

Art That Protects and Intersectionality 4: Category Ethnicity – Arlequín y los Juglares
Arte que protege e interseccionalidad 4: Categoría Étnica – Arlequín y los juglares

Art That Protects and Intersectionality 5: Category Sex and Gender – Renovación Art Corporation
Arte que protege e interseccionalidad 5: Categoría Sexo y Género – Renovación Corporación Artística

Podcast, Chapter 1: Let’s Change the Toys, Let’s Change the Game
Podcast, Capitulo 1: Cambiemos los juguetes, cambiemos la vuelta

Podcast, Chapter 2: Stronger than War
Podcast, Capitulo 2: Más fuertes que la Guerra

Podcast, Chapter 3: Connections that Support
Podcast, Capitulo 3: Conexiones que sostienen

BACKGROUND (ENGLISH):

After conducting a comprehensive review of the literature on unarmed civil protection and self-protection in 2020, we realized that it was important to understand the contributions that art can make within this field of practice. Therefore, in the first phase of the Art that Protects project, we decided to document the self-protective role of art. To achieve this goal, we analyzed the self-protection strategies developed by grassroots artistic and cultural organizations for children, youth, and women living in neighborhoods of Medellín, where urban conflict has severely impacted these populations.

From the findings of this first phase, we understood that the vulnerabilities experienced by children, youth, and women are not uniform. They are influenced by age, gender, social and economic status, ethnicity, and other categories. Moreover, we identified that thanks to the networks and connections with other collectives, cultural organizations create spaces of self-protection in their neighborhoods. Consequently, the second phase of the research focused on these two aspects.

We created a series of audiovisual materials to disseminate the findings from this second phase. First, through a series of five videos, we analyzed how beliefs, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender can simultaneously act as sources of vulnerability and self-protection, using an intersectional perspective.

In collaboration with Luis Fernando García “El Gordo,” founder and director of Barrio Comparsa, we explored how artistic organizations create images and works rooted in their ethical principles and values, reflecting their members’ stories and responding to the demands of their context. Juan Marcos Díaz, director of Robledo Venga Parchemos, shared insights on how violence in urban conflict contexts affects children and youth differently. For this reason, artistic and cultural organizations offer alternatives that help resist the pressures of armed groups.

The founders of Biocomunidad, Nelson Berdugo and Giovany Caro, highlighted how economic precariousness and informal labor impact many cultural and artistic organizations in the city. Also, they emphasized that the social value of artists transcends their financial circumstances. Ludis Soto Cruz and Óscar Manuel Zuluaga, members of Arlequín y los Juglares, discussed how Afro-descendant and Indigenous populations on the outskirts of Medellín face inequalities due to their ethnic identities. However, these communities express their knowledge and perspectives through art, strengthening their dignity. Diana Torres, Iris Andrea Álvarez, and Ana Milena Nanclares, members of Renovación, demonstrated how everyday power dynamics perpetuate gender stereotypes. Cultural organizations foster spaces for resistance and empowerment, especially for women, through community and artistic participation.

Second, through three podcast episodes, we examined how art has served as a self-protection strategy over the last forty years and as a tool for networking. These networks have enabled grassroots artistic and cultural organizations to enter communities and engage with their residents. In the first episode, Luis Fernando García recounted the tools used by Barrio Comparsa to reclaim public spaces for the residents of Manrique in the 1980s. Members of Ziruma shared how their work has made them stronger than the conflict, using theater to narrate the life and memory of the neighborhood and its people. Finally, the members of Sueños de Papel explained how support networks allowed them to recognize and build upon the work of those who had previously established the neighborhood, connecting with community leaders.

BACKGROUND (SPANISH)

Después de hacer un balance amplio de bibliografía sobre protección civil no armada y autoprotección en el 2020, nos dimos cuenta de que dentro de este campo de práctica es poco lo que se ha estudiado sobre los aportes que puede hacer el arte. Por lo tanto, en una primera fase del proyecto Arte que Protege, decidimos documentar el papel autoprotector del arte. Para alcanzar dicho objetivo analizamos las estrategias de autoprotección desarrolladas por las organizaciones de base artísticas y culturales para niños, niñas, jóvenes y mujeres, que viven en barrios de Medellín donde el conflicto urbano ha estado activo.

A partir de los hallazgos de esa primera fase, nos dimos cuenta de que las vulneraciones perpetradas a niños, niñas, jóvenes y mujeres no se experimentan de la misma manera, sino que también obedecen a su edad, género, estatus social y económico, etnia y otras categorías. Además, entendimos que una de las razones por las cuales las organizaciones artísticas y culturales construyen espacios de autoprotección en sus barrios, es gracias a la red de alianzas y redes que establecen con otras organizaciones. En consecuencia, la segunda fase de la investigación se preocupó por estos dos temas.

Para dar a conocer los hallazgos encontrados en esta segunda fase decidimos desarrollar una serie de materiales audiovisuales. En primer lugar, a través de una serie de cinco vídeos analizamos desde la perspectiva interseccional la forma en la que las creencias, la edad, la etnia, el estatus socioeconómico y el género, pueden tener un carácter vulnerador y autoprotector. Con Luis Fernando García “El Gordo”, director fundador de Barrio Comparsa, vemos cómo las organizaciones artísticas crean imágenes y obras basadas en sus principios éticos y valores, reflejando las historias de sus miembros y respondiendo las demandas del contexto. Juan Marcos Díaz, director de Robledo Venga Parchemos, nos relata cómo la violencia en contextos de conflicto urbano afecta de manera diferente a niños, niñas y jóvenes. Por ello las organizaciones artísticas y culturales ofrecen alternativas que ayudan a resistir las presiones de los grupos armados.

Los fundadores de Biocomunidad, Nelson Berdugo y Giovany Caro, evidencian que la precariedad económica y la informalidad laboral afectan a muchas organizaciones culturales y artísticas en la ciudad, pero que la valoración social de los artistas va más allá de su situación económica. Ludis Soto Cruz y Óscar Manuel Zuluaga, integrantes de Arlequín y los Juglares hablan de cómo las poblaciones afrodescendientes e indígenas de las periferias de Medellín enfrentan desigualdades debido a su identidad étnica, pero las iniciativas artísticas les permiten expresar sus conocimientos y perspectivas, fortaleciendo su dignidad. Diana Torres, Iris Andrea Álvarez y Ana Milena Nanclares, integrantes de Renovación, demuestran que las dinámicas de poder cotidianas perpetúan estereotipos de género. No obstante, en las organizaciones culturales, las mujeres propician espacios de resistencia y empoderamiento en la participación comunitaria y artística.

En segundo lugar, a través de tres episodios de un podcast analizamos cómo en los últimos cuarenta años el arte ha servido como estrategia de autoprotección. Además, se analiza la forma en la que el trabajo en red le permitió a las organizaciones artísticas y culturales de base comunitaria entrar en los territorios y articularse con sus habitantes. En el primer episodio Luis Fernando García narra las herramientas que utilizó la organización que fundó, Barrio Comparsa, para recuperar la calle para los habitantes de Manrique en la década de 1980. Los integrantes de Ziruma evidencian que su trabajo los ha hecho más fuertes que la guerra. Ellos han utilizado el teatro para contar la vida y la memoria del barrio y sus habitantes. Por último, las integrantes de sueños de papel sostienen que las redes de apoyo les permitieron reconocer todo el trabajo que ya habían hecho quienes habían construido el barrio. Ellas se articularon con los líderes comunitarios.

A Spanish translation is available here

The exhibition “Let the Rivers Be for Life! Community Self-Protection and Care” represents a significant outcome of the research project “Water Conflicts, Violations, and Forms of Self-Protection: A Multi-Case Study in Eastern Antioquia, Colombia, Phase 2”. This unique exhibition delves into the strategies of self-protection employed by communities in response to conflicts impacting the Paloma, Dormilón, and Santo Domingo rivers, located in the municipalities of Argelia, San Luis, and San Francisco, respectively.

Through the collaborative arts of photography and embroidery, residents of these “hydrosocial” territories narrate the challenges they face. These include the arrival of small hydroelectric plants, mining activities, mass tourism, pressure from riverside real estate development, deforestation, and pollution. Yet, alongside these stories of struggle, they reveal how they have nonviolently protected themselves against these threats: through the weaving of community bonds, water stewardship, and a steadfast commitment to the peasant heritage of their lands.

The exhibition was showcased in October across the three municipalities involved in the study. This provided a space for the research team to share their findings with the communities who participated in the photography and embroidery exercises. Attendees underscored the essential role of water as the lifeblood of their territories. Although Eastern Antioquia has become a key hydroelectric resource for Colombia due to its abundant waterways, the communities pledged to continue their fight for a dignified life, enabling them to stay on their land and preserve their peasant traditions.

The Creating Safer Space network has published a new working paper, ‘Interseccionalidad, vulneraciones y autoprotección en el contexto del conflicto armado urbano en Medellín, 2022-2024’. The Working Paper is written by Beatriz Elena Arias López, Laura Jiménez Ospina, Sandra Benítez Diosa, Adriana María Diosa Colorado and Giovanny Pérez.

The working paper is currently only available in Spanish, but an English translation will be available soon.

The working paper presents the findings of the Creating Safer Space project, Art that Protects: Networks as strategies for self-protection in the context of urban conflict in the city of Medellín, 2023. It explores the role of art as a powerful form of self-protection in the context of social and armed conflict in Medellín, Colombia. Using an intersectional lens, it analyses the initiatives of fifteen community-based artistic and cultural organizations that have worked in the context of this urban conflict. By unpacking the categories of sex-gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, age, and cosmovision in the art that protects, the authors contribute to a deeper understanding, among others, of the role of marginalized people in their communities’ safety; the socioeconomic precarity of community-based artistic organisations; the role of art in creating spaces for reflection of hidden, naturalised violences such as structural racism; and the importance of youth initiatives.

We welcome proposals for the Creating Safer Space Working Paper Series. Please contact creating-safer-space@aber.ac.uk if you are interested in publishing a working paper with us.