Week 6 Infante: Values in Body Paint

(from middle left rotating clockwise)

love, peace; love, affection, peace; joy, unity, strength; honesty, love; hoy, love; strength, love, honesty, peace

Our sixth session at Infante and Emma and I left shattered and also HUGELY happy with how well the girls responded to the questions on the project evaluation form - we asked the girls questions about their community at Infante and the canvas-painting project and then asked them to choose from a large selection of values those that are most important to them... looking at their painted arms in the group photo above it's fascinating to see what the repetitions are: love, strength, peace, honesty, joy...

I painted the words the girls had chosen onto their arms, in the colours that they visualised for those particular values (Andrea also painted Melanie as the sun was setting towards the end of our session!), 

then photographed their arms in front of their canvases: 

The other focus of the day was painting into one another's paintings.  Where we had left blank corners on each girl's canvas, the colour of the neighbouring canvases was painted in, linking each canvas to it's neightbours, reflecting how we all affect one another in or communities.  Thinking of the project's theme of community it hugely touched me (to the point I got goose-pimples again!) to read the girls responses to the question 'what title would you give to this project?':

Daniela: united community

Ana Paola: The paintings of our united world

Melany: Art

Karim: Happiness for the whole world

Andrea: The joy and unity of the women

Paola: Peace and love

Emma: Commnity, Unity, Individuality

Kim: The Infante Family

The girls worked further into their paintings between the questions, corner-painting and body-painting. 

Roberta: JOY LOVE

Ana Paola: HONESTY LOVE

Andrea: JOY, STRENGTH, UNITY

Katia: COLABORATION, JOY, SECURITY, UNITY

Melany: LOVE, PEACE, AFFECTION

Paola: HONESTY, PEACE, STRENGTH, LOVE

Daniela: LOVE, PEACE

Gimena: JOY, WORTH, STRENGTH

Kim: EQUALITY, PEACE, LOVE

Yesterday's was my last full session with the girls - this coming week I will be in Tarija while Emma works with girls to add the finishing touched to their canvases and the following Wednesday we will be hanging and celebrating the girls work with an exhibition in the Infante cafe:

 "An exhibition of paintings made by the girls of Infante, 

come to share and celebrate with us:

16:00 hrs, Wednesday 18th December,

Infante, Avenida Linde, Tiquipaya"

love, peace; 

love, affection, peace;

love, peace; joy, unity, strength; 

honesty, peace, strength, love

A really beautiful heart-warming session - 

thanks you girls!

:-)

Sagittarius-Pegasus :-)

a drawing for a friends birthday this Monday...

flamingo feather for strength, yellow-veined feather for magic,  coca leaf to give thanks to Pachamama, pencil shavings for creativity, and blue button for peace!  

:-)

ONE: La Tribu Global

ONE: La Tribu Global, a personal project looking at and celebrating the rich and complicated diversity of our global human tribe... a project that stared out back in February when I first started my postcard-portrait project La Solidaridad de los Viajeros' (The Solidarity of Travelers) with my 'Familia de La Serena' in northern Chile.  Later on in Brazil the name adapted to 'La Solidaridad de los Compañeros' (Solidarity of the Companions) and now here in Bolivia, with the influence of traditional weavings and tribal body paint, like the examples from the Omo Tribe in the photos from Hans Silvester above the project has developed into 'La Tribu Global'.  

After my month in September of researching Bolivia weavings I wanted to experiment with painting folk's portraits on their body in shapes and colours reflecting their story of where they are from, where they have lived and their dreams for the future.  My first 'subject' was artist and great friend Camilla Brendon, who happily let me experiment with painting her while taking a stop-motion animation, which Millie's now using to promote her project 31south|64north - great stuff! :-)   

Then this weekend just gone, with so many despedidas for beloved SB friends, I had the chance in saying goodbye to paint Alix and Lola - thank you lovelies for participating in the project!

Asking questions about the countries and cultures that have influenced the subject, what 'home' means to them, and what they dream about for their future, I've been trying to paint some of that information onto their faces and bodies through the colours and shapes they associate with the various countries, places and thoughts.   It is still very early days in the experiment but I am hoping to invite many more of my friends here in Cochabamba to participate in the project, and I'm excited to see how it develops!

Along with so many goodbyes 

to members of the SB crew this weekend,

 including Lola, Alix, Florrie and Sabrina, 

there was one hello from me 

to this wee fellow who remained behind,

....Prince Ernesto 

...I'm temporarily taking care of

him until we find him a new home!

he sends all you missed folk a paw-pat on the nose, 

good luck with all your adventures!

:-)

La Tribu Global: Lola Rodrigues

Lola Rodrigues

Age: 19 

Where are you from?  France Where do you live? England

Where are you parents from? 
Mother from Romania, Father from Algeria

In which other countries have you lived? 

France, England, Bolivia

Which languages do you speak? 3-French, English, Spanish

What do you like to do in life? 

Adventures, Sailing, Dancing, Sharing, Living

When you imagine 7 years ahead, what do you dream about?

Faithfulness to who I am.  Simplicity. Truthfulness.  Music to make the world shine bright. People to keep my heart beating. Fast. The sea to make me feel alive, the rain.  And to be in peace with time.  And a boat. And love, love. Love.

Beautiful beautiful Lola!! :-)

What a great person Lola is... she has been working here in Cochabamba for the last couple of months as a valued member of the Sustainable Bolivia community, volunteering with our beloved CAICC.   

And now after these months of crazy all-night dancing (and our unforgettable 'girl-band-at-sunrise' moment with Florrie and I on the steps at the Full Moon Party!!! ;-) ) what a fantastic friend! 

Lola, thanks for a great couple of months! Good luck in all your upcoming adventures in Buenos Aires, looking forward to crossing paths with you again!

Big love, 

:-)

La Tribu Global: Alix Charles

Alix Charles

Age: 24 

Where are you from?  France Where do you live? Canada.

Where are you parents from? Mum and Dad -  France.

In which other countries have you lived? 

5 - France, USA, Canada, Greece and Bolivia

Which languages do you speak? 3-French, English, Spanish

What do you like to do in life? 

To talk, to look, to learn about who I am

When you imagine 7 years ahead, what do you dream about?

To have traveled the whole world.  to have made a difference en lives of poor people...  in the life of the world.

The beautiful Alix has been an invaluable asset for the NGO Mano a Mano over the last few months as a Sustainable Bolivia volunteer.  The organisation provides medical support and social development in Cochabamba, particularly in rural areas surrounding the city, and Alix did a great job in organising a group of SB volunteers to help out doing some last minute painting in Paracti to get a new medical centre opened on time.

Amongst all the work and fun here in Cocha Alix also impressively managed to fit in studying and sitting a GREs exam in La Paz... and pass with flying colours.. well done lovely! 

Good luck with all your upcoming studies and adventures Alix!

Big love 

:-) 

Week 6 Infante: canvas details

The girls did a great job of working into the detail of their canvases with sequins and cloth, overcoming the initial frustration this week of not being able to find the keys to get into the art supplies cupboard.  Here are details of each of their 8 canvases, as a teaser to their final images. 

:-)

Week 6 CAICC: voice recording

CAICC Exhibition of a short-film made by the CAICC kids in an art workshop of story-boards, puppets and stop-motion animation. 19th December in the morning at the San Pablo Prison. 20th December in the morning at the CAICC nursery.

Our 6th and final week working with the brilliant group of kids at CAICC - the next time I will see them is at the 2 screenings of their film in a couple of weeks, in the meantime I will be frantically editing all their work!! 

So to finish up, our focus was on recording voices and trying up loose ends in both the Tuesday and Thursday sessions (our Friday session was moved because the kids were all going swimming! :-).  Our Tuesday session has to have been one the most hectic we've had at the centre - trying to record clear voice tracks within the chaos of playtime for a huge group of kids of all ages is definitely a challenge! Reflecting on the session with Florrie on the bus home we reminded ourselves that in working in the context of CAICC we are doing something that is not a part of their regular working schedule - we've asked to come and work there, and have been privileged to have been so warmly and enthusiastically welcomed by both staff and kids, but it is also important for us to remember that for the kids their priority in the space is fun and play, and so we need to look for or create the spaces we need to achieve our aims with kids who are engaging with our workshop.  What that meant in recording voices was noticing that it would be impossible (and unfair) to stop the little kids from playing on the squeaky swings and running around shouting and screaming, so instead we took the workshop kids outside into the relative quiet of the street to record their voices.  The moment we did that we were much more successful, and over the course of the two sessions got all the recordings we needed! :-) 

This was also Florrie's last week as a volunteer at SB, so she said goodbye to the kids on Thursday with lollies and hugs (she headed off to Brazil this weekend!), and we also took another couple of interviews which turned out to be very moving. 

Anan, a 20 year old artisan who grew up supported by CAICC and has been a huge part of our workshop, getting involved animating scenes and helping with the little ones, spoke of how CAICC is a family, and how he feels at home there among brothers and sisters.  What he shared with us was really moving (I have goose-pimples again as I write - I also had them as Florrie and I interviewed him) and just goes to show what a huge impact the organisation is having on the lives of the kids it works with.

Veronica the director spoke about CAICC and its objectives, and why they asking for help in buying terrain to build their own house: 

Our motto is 'for the freedom to smile' and our mission is to offer complete support through an education based on principles of love, respect, and solidarity to children and young people who at risk due to abandonment as a result of their parents living in jails or having migrated for economic reasons. 

[from the CAICC website]

"Help us to find our own house"

Florrie and I used the extra time on our unexpectedly free Friday to animate a couple of missing scenes with the help of a special little someone (thanks Amaya!), and also to photograph all the credits and go over the final version of a booklet that Florrie has been fastidiously putting together over the last couple of the weeks to give as a present to all the kids involved in the project, documenting the whole process of the workshops. 

 ... a big thanks to all the folks involved, all the kids and staff at CAICC, to Jonathan for lending us his camera and microphone so often, and for coming along to CAICC with us and new SB staff Teresa this Tuesday to help with recording voices.  Thanks also to Kory for originally introducing me to the organisation and of course to Florrie for her invaluable collaboration, what a brilliant work partner! :-)

It has been an absolute joy working with this group of kids, and I'll look forward to sharing the final results with them in a couple of weeks time....

...keep an eye out for the film in an upcoming post! 

:-)