The “Afro-Colombian Mural: Currulao y Desplazamiento” in Washington DC celebrates the strong and vibrant Afro-Colombian culture and educates the public about the widespread displacement and other human rights issues related to the armed conflict. I designed this mural with the guidance, input, and inspiration of many of my close friends in DC’s Afro-Colombian community, many of whom have political asylum due to the severe human rights situation. I also traveled to the conflict-ridden Pacific Coast region of Colombia to visit my friends’ families, take pictures and do research, all of which contributed to the images in the 3-story tall mural, located on U Street, one of DC’s most vibrant and popular commercial districts.
The mural was inaugurated with a well-attended public event featuring my mural presentation, speeches by the Afro-Colombian activist Marino Córdoba and a local DC councilmember, live music, traditional food, and a folkloric dance presentation by the local Afro-Colombian dance group Tangaré. The mural was funded by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, and is located at 1344 U Street NW, at 14th. The event was co-sponsored by TransAfrica Forum and NASGACC.
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| Musicians playing currulao, a popular folkloric music and dance style form the Pacific coast. |
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| This tree is known as the African palm tree, and due to big business' desire to cultivate it on a massive scale for biofuel, many people have been forcibly displaced from their traditional homelands, and many have been killed. |
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| Life on the river! This is the way of life in many Pacific coast communities. |
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| Colombia has more displaced people due to conflict than anywhere in the world except Sudan and Congo (DRC). |
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| People bathe, kids play, and women wash clothes in the river. |
How did this mural come to be?
The idea for this project was born two years before its' creation, when I began working at the Latin American Youth Center in DC. Many of my co-workers were Afro-Colombian, and we quickly became close friends. I was invited to many events, dinners, and parties, where I met others in the Afro-Colombian community, and a world I had been unaware of was opened up to me: they shared their culture with me and educated me about the violence and repression still going on in Colombia, where the black and indigenous populations are disproportionately targeted. I also became aware of the role that American foreign policy plays in the conflict, including the American government's support of the Colombian military despite well documented and widespread human rights abuses. When my friends spoke of their family members and friends who had been murdered, the tragedy of this situation hit home for me. I decided to travel to their region of Colombia on the Pacific coast, where I visited my friends' families and did research for the mural. All the images that I painted in the mural were chosen carefully by my friends and their families and friends back in Colombia.
