Normalización
2021, 2-channel video installation, HD, 47 min. 39. sec.
Video Stills
The installation tells the stories of six former FARC child soldiers, trained as snipers, who joined the guerrillas between the ages of 8 and 15. At the same time, the work documents the demobilized zone of Tierra Grata. Located on a mountain peak at the border with Venezuela, approximately 280 former FARC combatants live with their families in precarious conditions while awaiting the further course of the peace process. In order to tell their story to visitors in a "tangible” way and in the hope of generating financial income, residents have built a replica and "true-to-the-original" guerrilla camp in the adjacent jungle. Here tourists can stay overnight.
The work is part of my current research on historiographies of La Violencia, Colombia's armed conflict. In this series of works, I explore how narratives about the conflict are deployed in the peace process and search for truth, and how alternative narratives are made possible through situated knowledge. The goal is to present a dispositif of narratives, biographies, and fictionalizations, as well as the structure and materiality of La Violencia’s history.
Video Stills