The Creating Safer Space Exhibition was on show at the Carlos Gaviria Díaz Library of the University of Antioquia, Colombia, from 4 June – 30 July 2024. The exhibition was part of the Creating Safer Space regional workshop for Latin America, hosted by the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Antioquia.
To introduce the exhibition, we conducted three guided tours and a forum with the Corporación Jurídica Libertad (CJL). During the tours, we talked about unarmed civilian protection, community self-protection, and the role that art and non-violence play in these practices. In the forum with CJL, we discussed their research: The Social Process of Guarantees of Antioquia, Colombia, an experience of unarmed civil protection with indigenous and peasant communities of Bajo Cauca (a short film clip from CJL is available here).
Approximately fifty people participated in the tours and the forum, including twenty children from a school in Medellin who were visiting the University of Antioquia, students, and representatives of organizations such as the UNHCR and the Corporación Arlequín y los Juglares.
These were the reflections of some of the attendees:
“We are not only violated by the presence of armed actors, whether legal or illegal, but also by economies that do not care about our territories and those of us who inhabit them. To protect civilians, we must also change the conditions in which the communities live.” (Zenú indigenous woman from Antioquia)
“The creation of safer spaces does not depend on the state or the government, it depends on all of us.” (Nursing student, University of Antioquia)
“To protect yourself or others, you don’t need weapons.” (Nursing student, University of Antioquia)
“The exhibition moved me and somehow took me back in time. As I saw in the exhibition, Colombia has not been unrelated to wars and violence. I grew up in the Santo Domingo Savio, a neighborhood in Medellin, between 1990 and 2000, a time marked by violence. Although I was four years old, I clearly remember the shootings that took place. My parents could only leave the house to work or buy food. I still remember several dead bodies lying on the street, face up and bloodied. Perhaps I did not live through conflicts of the magnitude of some of the countries in the exhibition. However, it is challenging to remember these experiences and acknowledge that many lives have been profoundly affected by war”. (Nursing student, University of Antioquia)
The travelling exhibition, which has also been on show in Nairobi (Kenya), Bangkok (Thailand), Aberystwyth (Wales) and New York (USA) explores the unexpected power of nonviolence in the protection of civilians living in the midst of violence. The objects, images, and voices originate from a selection of 26 research projects funded by the Creating Safer Space network, which have been conducted in collaboration between academics, self-protecting communities and nonviolent civilian accompaniers. The exhibition draws on experiences from Cameroon, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Palestine, the Philippines, South Sudan, and Thailand, where civilians are harnessing the power of nonviolence to create safer spaces and work towards alternative presents and futures. The exhibition is available online here.