On Wednesday 13th July, the Chavitas Change Makers Programme visited the Tate Modern in London to have a direct and powerful encounter with works by Latinx artists such as Cinthia Marcelle, Ana Mendieta and Doris Salcedo, among others. The aim was to discuss the exhibitions, so that they could recognise the strength of telling their own stories, talking about injustices, and connecting with their place of origin from a distance as they are originally from Latin America.
It is important to mention that a strong theme throughout the works is the importance of the bond with their land, which is a concept that we work with at LAWA, as it is directly linked to sisterhood, resilience, and intersectionality.
During the day, young Latin American girls from St. Gabriel´s College in Lambeth made their own works of art, played didactic games, learned to express themselves, and explored the concepts of self-love and personal care so that they might carry them through into their own lives in the future, and truly understand their holistic importance, not just the commercial aspect that we see in the media. The aim of the activities was to channel the girls’ emotions, thereby strengthening the camaraderie on both the individual level and the collective.
The workshop was called ‘We are all unique, but no one is alone’ and its aim was to take the girls on a journey to see Latinx artists on show in the Tate Modern’s permanent collections, exposing the girls to creative methodologies that were accessible to all; making them understand that whilst we all have our own identities and battles, we are part of a collective that supports each other. It was especially important after going through the pandemic lockdowns, when it would have been very challenging to go on this type of school outing.
The outing was prepared with the objective of being a bridge between the programme cycle that has just closed and the next one that begins in the new school year, which is currently being developed.
Creating connections in person has always been a fundamental pillar of our work, so we had to take on the challenges the pandemic brought and reinvent the programme in a new environment, which is how it has evolved into more powerful and creative forms, both for those who are near and for those who are far away.
The Chavitas Change Makers Programme hopes to develop a new cycle of activities which we are working on by incorporating the feedback of all participants across different generations.
Do you want to learn more about the #LAWAChangemaker programme? Don’t forget to download the toolkit by following this link: https://lawadv.org.uk/en/lawas-change-maker-toolkit/ . It is currently only available in English, but we hope to be able to sponsor its publication in Spanish and Portuguese for the next cycle of the project. So, keep up to date with our news to find out about this !
If you have any feedback, please send it over to [email protected] , your input is really important to LAWA!
Special thanks to all facilitators and the team of volunteers that with commitment and passion make possible to deliver the workshop and the positive news for our cherished LAWA community.
