Granada Mola

This Mola and consequent prints were created thanks to the image from Jesus Abad Colorado´s archive, a Colombian journalist that has documented Colombian conflict throughout his practice. One of the episodes that changed my perspective about this conflict was to finally have access to these images during my visit to the "El Testigo" (The Witness) exhibition in Bogotá, images portraying the real conflict. As Colombians, we have been exposed to biased images and narratives from our conflict, general media has been coerced by powerful members of society disabling free speech leaving us in a constant alternative reality. 

The original Mola I built, used an image from the Granada town in the Antioquia region. After the armed seizure of their town by the FARC guerilla, the townspeople held a "brick march" for the rebuilding of their town. A river of people, holding a river of bricks...

The layers of the Mola, besides involving a "tropical colour" palette alluding to the clichés associated with Latin America and Kitsch, went through several symbolic textile processes such as Cross-dye and "Devoré" a brutal process of destruction. Within the structured textile, several messages are embedded and hidden.

The image is lost after these processes, just a faint trace can still be perceived. Life disappears giving birth to new territories, abandoned landscapes.

In-your-face colours for a public that won´t look, a message that shouts to be "read"...to be acknowledged.

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SOME OF THESE TEXTILES INCLUDE BULLETPROOF FABRIC, THE ONE USED FOR THE MAKING OF VESTS AND SAFEGUARD CLOTHING.