Intervention #1
Intervention’s name & Research Question :
‘Anonymous Love Letters’ – How can Love be used ?
Description :
I asked random people via sharing Google Forms to write a Love Letter, not necessarily in a romantic tone, but rather to someone or something they loved yet felt critical about. I made it anonymous so the participants would feel free to write whatever they needed to express.
New Knowledge:
I received almost 40 letters, what made me realise that people have a lot to express if given the right medium / opportunity. Some of the people to whom I asked to write a love letter were apprehensive at first, and even found it funny, as their idea of letter was associated with childish, girly, corny, glossy or ancient (these are some of the adjectives I encountered). But afterwards they told me it was really nice for me to ask them to write a love letter, that they felt somehow relieved.
Experts / Collaboeartors :
Everyone who participated in the exercise.
Intervention #2
Intervention’s name & Research Question :
‘Kiss & Tell’ Performance – How can we use stereotypical mediums of Love ( such as love letters, poems and songs) to deconstruct systematic abuse?
Description :
I enacted a performance in a public park in which, having put the anonymous love letters which I received in the previous intervention in pastel pink envelopes, I proceeded to kiss each one of them leaving a lipstick stain. In this process I applied lipstick on myself by using a hand mirror, and sang to old Cuban love songs. I positioned the kissed letters in a circle around me, and strangers coming by were free to grab a letter and sit around to read it.
New Knowledge:
- People were extremely curious to read the love letters. Even after the performance I was asked if it was possible for me to share the other letters in an online document. I believe curiosity is such a human quality, so it is interesting to create scenarios in which curiosity is awaken.
- Most of the feedback I received emphasized how much the loved being part of the experience. The scene created some disruption in their daily routine. Even for the people who were only able to watch it on video commented that they felt soothed by watching my actions.
- Many people were interested to learn more about the Cuban songs I was singing, and how it felt somehow displaced without it being necessarily a negative connotation.
Experts / Collaboeartors :
- People who wrote the letters
- People who were passing by the park / People who stayed and red the letters.
- I received feedback from Cuban visual artist Paola Martínez Fiterre .
Intervention #3
Intervention’s name & Research Question :
‘Tea with Chismosas : Arts & Poetry Edition’, for diaspora Gen Z artist based in Madrid, Spain – How can the Exploration of Patriarchy, Colonialism and Capitalism (as intersectional systems) be used to reclaim lost subjectivity within a Latinx context?
Description :
This intervention was the result of two previous smaller interventions.
- At the beginning of the MA I started a series of encounters titled ‘Tea with Chismosas’ . Chismosas is Latin American slang that refers to women who enjoy coming together to share the latest gossips. It is often used in sentences such as “las mujeres no hacen mas que chismear” ( “women do nothing but gossip”). I believe chisme has been and can be a very powerful tool and it has come our time to reclaim it in order to fulfil our needs. My first iteration was titled ‘Tea with Chismosas : On Love, Gender and Capitalism” and is available on my blog / YouTube.
- During the summer term I started exploring themes of Cuban visual culture. Writing the love letter I realised that many of my mixed cultural practices have been classified as ‘bad taste’ when in contact with Western culture, specifically European (Spanish). I specifically focused on Cuban cakes because these are very significant to Cuban culture, and managed to interview Cristina, a Madrid based Cuban cake maker. She not only shared that the Spanish see her creations as extravagant , but also had a conversation about her experience as part of the Cuban diaspora in Madrid.
- Finally , for this intervention (#3) , I organized an Arts and Poetry Evening inspired by Cuban social events. I asked specifically Gen Z diaspora to participate in the love letter exercise, but this time the letters were opened to their artistic interpretation. We also shared the Cake that Cristina had previously made for us.
New Knowledge:
First of all I learnt that I was not the only one feeling this way, that in fact , we all shared very similar experiences growing up , and are currently going through the same feelings of uncertainty towards the future. In many occasions we have had to sacrifice vital parts of ourselves in order to fit into what was stablished.
For many of us our idea of cultural and social identity cannot be pinned down to one thing and is also heavily influenced by issues of class, as well as issues of gender and sexuality.
Experts / Collaboeartors :
- Gen Z diaspora artist based in Madrid.
- I also received feedback from Cuban professor Lino García Morales , who is currently working at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in Spain. He works in various departments regarding Arts & Culture as well as Mixed Media, and he is also a musical producer and the author of several books and novels.
Intervention #4
Intervention’s name & Research Question :
‘Love Letters 2’ – How can the experiences of Latam Diaspora allow us to explore fluid identities in a Gen Z context ?
Description :
This time I asked specifically Latam Gen Z Diaspora to partake in the Love Letters Exercise. Having learnt from the last intervention, the format is opened to their artistic interpretation , striving towards promoting more hybrid creations that embody the fluid nature of our identity.
New Knowledge:
This allowed my participants to reflect on their multiple layers and experiences, as well as became my tool to gather important feedback and create authentic connections.
Some of the dragons raised the fact that Love Letters are a Western creation and questioned my use of it. My response to that would be that we are decolonising the love letter format by allowing the participants to redefine and reclaim what a Love letter is to them. But I must also add that, that is exactly my point. We are surrounded by Western creations, that is a fact, and the point of my project is not really to distance myself from the West by giving voice to folk and indigenous traditions. Specially taking into the fact that there isn’t much to reclaim when it comes to Cuba or the Caribbean as indigenous cultures were almost completely lost after Spanish colonisation. We have created our own traditions, most of the times reinventing and reclaiming that which had been brought up by the West. For instance Santería practices, which are an amalgamation of mainly Catholicism and Yoruba (Lokumí) religious practices.
I want to make clear that when I speak of the West , I not only speak of it as a geopolitical space but as a system that has historically imposed itself onto other cultural practices via colonial history. But I must admit that my use of ‘the West’ was indeed too broad. For instance , Gypsy communities are also part of the West, yet they’re still marginalized and excluded from the idea of “good taste”.
And overall, although less stigmatised, similar thing happens with working class communities, regardless of their ethnic background. This is what Bourdieu brilliantly displays. As well, Latin American diaspora communities also exist within the West.
I have realised that what I’m interested in challenging is not the West itself, bad rather the bourgeois West, which excludes and marinalises communities based on Class and race .
I have also realised that I do not wish to treat people like data. My intention is to get to know the people who want to partake or engage with my project, and enable deep interactions and relationship that expand beyond the superficialities of networking. I do not wish to exclude anyone. I am creating a community for people that have been told they do not belong in the system. To not consider this will be exclusionary on itself.
Experts / Collaboeartors :
- Gen Z Latam diaspora Artist and people who wish to express something.
- I recived feedback from Amalgama Art, an organisation that promotes Latin American women in the arts and is based in the UK.