ALIVE
ALIVE is an intimate encounter with the unknown stories and lives of women that are social leaders of different regions of Colombia. In the context of a country marked by conflict and social inequality, these women arise bringing new life possibilities for their communities. The work explores their resilience, diversity, and focuses on them as fascinating individuals, exalting aesthetic aspects that make them unique. The images are the result of a profound dialogue with each woman about their reality and their gaze. Each of the stories that ALIVE collects becomes a relevant historical document, as each of these women represents a cause and a purpose itself.
The photographs capture the instant after a conversation of self-acknowledgement. The poetry of this work is not just embodied in the figurative depictions, but woven through every aspect of the 19th-century "Van Dyke Brown technique" prints and its singularity. The plant and fruit fibers of each handcrafted paper connects back to the regions these activists are from. The project brings awareness to their struggles; it establishes connections and raises a mirror that allows the observer to recognize its humanity in the portraits of these leaders. Making the project ALIVE a platform that weaves different faces of the conflict to tell a more human and accurate history of Colombia.
Maria Antonia
Buenaventura, Colombia
Van Dyke Brown photography printed on plantain, chontaduro, and damagua handcraft paper. Intervened with drawing, natural pigments and oil painting.
39.3 x 27.5”, 100 x 70cm, 2019
“I am from the beautiful city of Buenaventura, I was born here and I have never left. I’ve been an educator for 30 years and I have taken the word of God to children in the most vulnerable neighborhoods in my city. I work on the project “Casa de Paz”, a recreational and learning space for children and adolescents that promotes nonviolence. All my life has developed within the service to children, it has been my main purpose and I want to continue doing until the end of my days.”
Camila
Guajira, Colombia
Van Dyke Brown photography printed on jute and cotton handcraft paper. Intervened with drawing, natural pigments and oil painting.
39.3 x 27.5” / 100 x 70cm, 2019
“I am part of the youth academy of the organization “Strength women Wayuu.” We are young people educated in political schools and who support the processes of senior leaders. I led an investigation about the relationship between water and women in a water stream in the south of La Guajira. This stream has been exploited for mining, generating serious health, social and environmental consequences. My personal mission is that young people take ownership of our territory, I want to continue and reinforce our elder leader’s work.”
Katherin
Guajira, Colombia
Van Dyke Brown photography printed on jute and cotton handcraft paper. Intervened with drawing, natural pigments and oil painting.
39.3 x 27.5” / 100 x 70cm, 2019
“As Wayuus we are nomads in our own territory, the most northern piece of land in the American subcontinent. Recovering love for this land that has gone through a hectic and painful history is my purpose. Starting with the recovery of seeds, food sovereignty, the recognition of the environment, and our territory as our own, I seek that my community can be sustainable. I am the co-founder of the La Guajira environmental movement where, in alliance with civil institutions, we foster a collective conscience regarding waste management in the region. I am the creator of the project “Hilos por mma” where we exchange garbage bags for threads of wool for the Wayuu weavers of the community.”
Shirly
Buenaventura, Colombia
Van Dyke Brown photography printed on plantain, chontaduro, and damagua handcraft paper. Intervened with drawing, natural pigments and oil painting.
39.3 x 27.5”, 100 x 70cm, 2019
“The moment where I feel most radiant is when I am teaching a class in my community. I am a sociologist and for over 16 years I have been a teacher in public education. I have worked with children and adolescents, helping them to prevent gender violence and to promote peaceful conflict resolution, ethnic identity, democracy, and peace. I worked on the creation of a program to identify socio-economic conditions of young people in high risk, our city offers the least opportunities for young people, and for me, it is a necessity to contribute and open new horizons. I’m currently developing a parallel project that seeks inclusion in universities for young people with disabilities, this project is already being implemented at the University of the Pacific.”
Aracely
Cundinamarca, Colombia
Van Dyke Brown photography printed on corn, sheep wool and cotton handcraft paper. Intervened with drawing, natural pigments and oil painting.
39.3 x 27.5”, 100 x 70cm, 2019
“For more than 16 years I have been working on my dream, which consists of helping the children of Buenaventura to get out of oblivion and the lack of opportunities to which they have been subjected to. due to the internal conflict of our country and the few guarantees offered by the government throughout all these years. My mission began while I was preaching God’s word as pastor of my community. I could not understand how Buenaventura, the largest port in Colombia and a place where there is such abundance of everything, poverty is so prevalent that a child has to live his days on an empty stomach. Since then, I wake up every day, to change this. I am currently the director and founder of FUNSAR, a social love, and restoration foundation, where I provide formal education and food assistance to more than a thousand children annually. I have been able to forge 4 schools and an integral development center, attended by children from slums such as Lleras, Viento Libre, Triunfo, and Nueva Frontera.”
Sonia
Buenaventura, Colombia
Van Dyke Brown photography printed on plantain, chontaduro, and damagua handcraft paper. Intervened with drawing, natural pigments and oil painting.
39.3 x 27.5”, 100 x 70cm, 2019
“For 20 years, along with my community’s Action Board, I have fought so that young people have better chances of living through educational spaces and a positive family environment. I have always worked for the things that concern them and I feel happy when they grow up and I realize that I left a mark in their lives. It is a difficult job, but I will continue to fight to transform Buenaventura, my city, towards a promising future that offers a different alternative to the new generations.”
Sildana
Cundinamarca, Colombia
Van Dyke Brown photography printed on corn, sheep wool and cotton handcraft paper. Intervened with drawing, natural pigments and oil painting.
39.3 x 27.5”, 100 x 70cm, 2019
“When I was six years old, my mother taught me how to weave, she taught me how the threads, when joined together, create a solid structure that results in a blanket for shelter, a dress to cover or a tapestry to tell stories. Today, being 77 years old, weaving has led me to become a leader of Sutatausa. I am a woman, among many that build a helping hand for others, a network of support, that prevents crumble, a symbol of continuity. I am part of Tejilarte, a group of craftswomen who, through wool, make products that contribute to our and several families’ economy in our town.”
Mercedes
Guajira, Colombia
Van Dyke Brown photography printed on jute and cotton handcraft paper. Intervened with drawing, natural pigments and oil painting.
39.3 x 27.5” / 100 x 70cm, 2019
“My dream is to help every woman recover her self-love. To generate changes in our environment, it is necessary to start with ourselves. I am the director of the extension and social projection at the University of La Guajira, where I lead projects to fight sexual and gender-based violence, I coordinated the postgraduate course “Comprehensive approach to sexual exploitation and human trafficking, with a focus on mixed migration flow and indigenous communities”. I am a leader of the Guajira and with my daily work, I help several communities to strengthen their infrastructure for entrepreneurship and the exercise of female political leadership. I am currently working on a project of “peace citadels” with former members of the FARC, where we work entrepreneurship and solidarity economy items.”
Luz María
Cundinamarca, Colombia
Van Dyke Brown photography printed on corn, sheep wool and cotton handcraft paper. Intervened with drawing, natural pigments and oil painting.
39.3 x 27.5”, 100 x 70cm, 2019
“A woman leader is the one who weaves the sense of community, leads collective processes with great passion. At seven years old, my mother taught me how to weave and to love people. As the leader of my community, I work to preserve our hand-weaving trade, our traditional dishes, and our string music. I lead the school of artisanal weaving in Sutatausa, I do all this with my classmates in a Festival called Tejilarte that seeks to exalt Sutatausa’s cultural wealth. For more than 15 years I have created a network with rural women and the community, my job is to encourage them to generate their income with their craftsmanship of wool. I am the artisan ambassador of my region.”
Linda Antonella
Guajira, Colombia
Van Dyke Brown photography printed on jute and cotton handcraft paper. Intervened with drawing, natural pigments and oil painting.
39.3 x 27.5” / 100 x 70cm, 2019
“I have worked for 22 years in my region teaching children and young people the passion and importance of reading as a tool to fight vulnerability. I have taken our literature internationally, but also to the indigenous reservations of our territory. I worked on the “PUTCHIPU” children’s booklet, a literary tool for conflict resolution. Through the Pezcarte Foundation, I have developed programs to promote art, culture, and entrepreneurship with an ethnic and gender focus. I have built reading and entrepreneurship workshops with more than 2000 migrants, including Venezuelans, helping them to carry out their own economic projects.”
Jhassay
Guajira, Colombia
Van Dyke Brown photography printed on jute and cotton handcraft paper. Intervened with drawing, natural pigments and oil painting.
39.3 x 27.5” / 100 x 70cm, 2019
“From my mother, I inherited perseverance, nobility, and sincerity. From the wayuú culture, I inherited resistance, respect, and the value of the word. I am a leader who welcomes others and encourages them through handmade fabrics. With my artisanal workshop, I generate jobs for my community and our neighbors, so that people can have an income that allows them to have a decent lifestyle, and at the same time, to keep alive this ancestral knowledge for the generations to come.”
Carmen
Guajira, Colombia
Van Dyke Brown photography printed on jute and cotton handcraft paper. Intervened with drawing, natural pigments and oil painting.
39.3 x 27.5” / 100 x 70cm, 2019
“I trained as a dancer in the National Ballet of Colombia and the school of folk dances of Barranquilla. My desire was always to return to my region to train others and share my passion for dance. As a dancer and a teacher, I have taught for 27 years in different educational institutions of Riohacha. I created my Juacar foundation in 1993, a project that is part of the national cultural coordination program of the Ministry of Culture. I believe in dance as a tool for personal growth and leadership training. My school is inclusive and aims to guide children into proactive activities, to find in dance a way of living. Some of my students have created their own schools and have managed to live of dance, for me that is the importance of art as a profession, it multiplies and continues to reaffirm identity, self-love, and the preservation of traditions.”
Angélica
Guajira, Colombia
Van Dyke Brown photography printed on jute and cotton handcraft paper. Intervened with drawing, natural pigments and oil painting.
39.3 x 27.5” / 100 x 70cm, 2019
“I am the founder of the Wayuu Women’s Forces Movement, which is part of the nationwide networks that aid indigenous women and women, victims of the armed conflict, we seek to activate these women's political participation. I am part of the national network of women leaders and defenders, from where we achieved a law on security protocols in integral matters for Leading Women. In an environmental aspect, I defend and fight for the preservation of the Ranchería River, one of the most important sources of water in Guajira, generating legal complaints about the protection and implementation of peace agreements established in the “Peace Treaty in 2017.” I believe in the ancestral value that the spoken word has in our culture, and that is why, through the reconstruction of the collective memory of the victims of armed conflict, we work on the project “The backpack of truth” that collects memories of two unknown massacres that happened in our region, seeking for history not to repeat itself. Although they try to silence us, we believe in raising our voice.”
Yolanda
Buenaventura, Colombia
Van Dyke Brown photography printed on plantain, chontaduro, and damagua handcraft paper. Intervened with drawing, natural pigments and oil painting.
39.3 x 27.5”, 100 x 70cm, 2019
“For more than 16 years I have been working on my dream, which consists of helping the children of Buenaventura to get out of oblivion and the lack of opportunities to which they have been subjected to. due to the internal conflict of our country and the few guarantees offered by the government throughout all these years. My mission began while I was preaching God’s word as pastor of my community. I could not understand how Buenaventura, the largest port in Colombia and a place where there is such abundance of everything, poverty is so prevalent that a child has to live his days on an empty stomach. Since then, I wake up every day, to change this. I am currently the director and founder of FUNSAR, a social love, and restoration foundation, where I provide formal education and food assistance to more than a thousand children annually. I have been able to forge 4 schools and an integral development center, attended by children from slums such as Lleras, Viento Libre, Triunfo, and Nueva Frontera.”
Liliana
Cundinamarca, Colombia
Van Dyke Brown photography printed on corn, sheep wool and cotton handcraft paper. Intervened with drawing, natural pigments and oil painting.
39.3 x 27.5”, 100 x 70cm, 2019
“From my parents I inherited the most valuable thing in my heart; the ability to put myself in someone else’s place, to trust and to always fight for freedom and justice. For 32 years, I have worked every day to plant the seed of unity in my town’s youth, the seed to undertake social projects, to identify issues, and generate solutions through culture. My biggest dream is to be able to gather the stories and the wisdom of my people and show the world how wonderful this piece of land is. I am currently the local cultural director of my municipality and I lead youth camps with young people where we work peacebuilding initiatives.”