Beyond Skin & Escuelas de Paz are leading the creative peace link between Northern Ireland & Colombia with the rapid and organic growth of the #FUTyoURES programme.
IMAGINE PEACE
Ingrid Guyon & Antonio Amador
Belfast Exposed Gallery
Exhibition Dates: 18, 19, 20 September 2018 (11am - 5.00pm) Culture Night / Peace Day 21 September (11am - 8pm)
Exhibition Reception: Tuesday 18 September, 6-8pm (Ingird & Antonio in attendance)
Fort school and group visits & workshops contact info.beyondskin@gmail.com
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.
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.”
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
Ingrid 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.
www.ingridguyon.com
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”.
www.amadorcamargo.com
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Imagine Peace is generously supported by Community Relations Council, Belfast Harbour, Arts Council Northern Ireland, and British Council NI.
Tuesday 18 September, 6pm-8pm: Exhibition Opening
Friday 21 September: Culture Night
Tuesday to Saturday, from 11am to 5pm.
For additional information, please contact Hannah Watson at h.watson@belfastexposed.org or +44 (0) 2890 230965.
Website: www.belfastexposed.org
Belfast Exposed, 23 Donegall Street. Belfast. BT1 2FF
About Belfast Exposed
Belfast Exposed Photography began in 1983 as a community photography training initiative. It is now Northern Ireland’s principal gallery of contemporary photography, working with both local and international photographers as well as housing an archive that documents the political, cultural and social change in Northern Ireland. Belfast Exposed Futures is a new programme that develops and promotes early career talent from Northern Ireland through a series of solo shows.
