DESIGN AND VIOLENCE
Textile Project intended as a critic and PROTEST towards local Colombian (South America) ELITE and GOVERNMENT, also towards the INTERNATIONAL community involved in this ongoing CONFLICT.
The word "ojo" (=oh hoh) in Spanish means "eye". In Colombia, the expression "OJO!" is used by the general public in informal speech to say "Beware!", "Keep attentive!"
At OJO! we claim Empathy, Awareness for Colonial and Extractivist practices, Respect for Historical Memory, Peace Process, and the Truth. We claim for the will to SEE, to confront the harsh burden we all have to carry for this tragedy...
We use our design tools such as colour palette, material, and imagery to criticize the notions of TASTE that permeate all of this.
None of the pieces are for sale.
All images of own work have @copyright
Montes de María Mola
This Mola and the resulting group of textiles are the outcomes of two images that cannibalized themselves, three layers of fabrics including military Colombian fabric used by armies in general in Colombia (again legal and illegal...same thing). These images are part of archives, from an important Colombian Artist´s archive and from the Heraldo Colombian newspaper archive. Juan Manuel Echavarría´s work deeply impacted my notions of the conflict. Here, one of the images part of his amazing work "Silencios" (Silences): "Silencio con mapas políticos" (Silence with political maps) shows one of the abandoned schools he documented around the region of Montes de María. This region has deeply suffered the impacts of this ongoing civil war mainly by paramilitaries groups frequently supported by the legal military forces, landowners and local Police. The other image, taken from the newspaper shows a common scene in which authorities take well care of the now most precious inhabitant of the region: CATTLE...
Like in the UK many centuries ago (18th/19th) with the "Highland Clearances", Colombia is undergoing its own just this time it's not sheep who will replace the human, children inhabitants...
SOME OF THESE TEXTILES INCLUDE BULLETPROOF FABRIC, THE ONE USED FOR THE MAKING OF VESTS AND SAFEGUARD CLOTHING.