About The Exhibition
Beyond Skin, in collaboration with Belfast Exposed and Escuelas de Paz, and coinciding with Good Relations Week (17-23 September), proudly presents Imagine Peace. This exhibition in Belfast is part of the #FUTyoURES creative Peace programme aimed at developing a shared creative model for conflict transformation in Colombia & Northern Ireland. At the heart of the project are the arts affirming the synergy between People and the Natural Environment around them. The #FUTyoURES programme is the collaborative brainchild of the organisations Beyond Skin (Northern Ireland) & Escuelas de Paz (Colombia). The focus of the project delivery is in Arauca & Soacha (Colombia) and Belfast, Craigavon, Keady & Cookstown (Northern Ireland).
The exhibition emphasises the power of photography as a tool to create a culture of hope to reach what they have been longing for: to live in peace. Through different photographic processes, the artists Ingrid Guyon and Antonio Amador, both individually and collaboratively, aim at transforming memories of migration, resistance and armed conflict into memories of peace.
Based in London and Barcelona, they have been independently documenting Colombian peace mobilisations with various collectives such as Paz a la Calle. Their artistic collaboration started in Barcelona with the Truth, Memory and Reconciliation Commission of Colombian Women in the Diaspora (TMRC) supported by Conciliation Resources, an independent peace building organisation. This led them to work with other collectives such as Paz a la Calle and The Collective of Colombian Exiled, Migrants and Refugee Women of Spain in the frame of the participatory project “Cuerpos Gramaticales”, a public sowing of women as a symbolic act of healing, organised by the International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP) and Agroarte, a local based organisation from Medellin in which the two women’s collectives took part. Both feminist initiatives work with the Colombian women's diaspora to visibilise their voices and role in the peace process and in the construction of the historical memory of Colombia towards women’s empowerment, integration in their host countries, reconciliation, healing and justice.
Darren Ferguson Founder of Beyond Skin said, “We are delighted to welcome and host this wonderful exhibition in Belfast as part of Community Relations Cultural Awareness week and Peace Day Culture Night. Using Art to create inviting inclusive spaces for learning, sharing and healing has never been as important as it is now in these challenging times. Somos semilla - crecemos juntos.”
Deirdre Robb, CEO of Belfast Exposed - Northern Ireland’s centre for photographic excellence, bringing the best of world photography to the heart of Belfast, states, “Belfast Exposed has a long history of presenting work with a socially engaged ethos, while responding to contemporary currents in photography and politics further afield. Therefore, we are delighted to collaborate with Beyond Skin to present the work of artists Ingrid Guyon & Antonio Amador whose work is both thought-provoking and engaging.”
The Artists
Ingrid Guyon Antonio AmadorIngrid Guyon is a French documentary photographer, filmmaker and participatory visual media practitioner. Based in London she has more than 10 years of experience in implementing participatory media projects within the education, museums and international development sectors. She is the founding director of Fotosynthesis, a social enterprise expert in participatory and ethical photography. Her passion is for community engagement and self-representation led her to get involved in long-term documentary projects on migration and peace-building, and extensively work with the Latin American community in London since 2004.
Antonio Amador is a Colombian photographer and publicist from University Jorge Tadeo Lozano and has specialised in author photography from the Superior School of Image and Design (IDEP) in Barcelona, where he is mainly working in the fashion industry and has a particular interest in documentary projects with anthropological and conceptual emphases. He is the co-founder of Colectivo Dinoudinou, an independent group that focussed on XIX century photographic processes. Within the research framework, Antonio has participated in multiple exhibitions, individually and collectively and his work about Colombia peace process includes “El silencio habla de las flores”, part of “IMAGINARIOS DESARMADOS”.
Events
Tuesday 18 September | 6-8pm | Belfast Exposed
Free AdmissionAcknowledgements
Imagine Peace is generously supported by Community Relations Council, Belfast Harbour, Arts Council Northern Ireland, and British Council NI.