Por Una Vida Digna, Asunción, PY
Lead Artist: Amber Hansen, Assistant Artists: Adriana Duarte & Guille Sanabria, Project Facilitator: Teresita Gonzalez1
6’ x 60’, Varadero Neighborhood, Asuncion, PY, 2018
FACEBOOK PAGE | Llamando a las Murallas
PRESS:
Hoy | 1.7.2018
Cronica | 9.8.2018
Ultima Hora | 7..1.2018
La Nación | 8.7.2018
Through the Kansas Paraguay Partners, and with the support of Partners of the Americas, I had the privilege of traveling to Asuncion, PY at the beginning of July to lead a community-based mural in the Varadero Neighborhood with Guille Sanabria and Adriana Duarte. This project was established by Teresita Gonzalez, a CPK member, artist, and coordinator of the Museo Hospital de Clínicas. Her vision for the project was to create a mural with the community that would not only re ect the history of the hospital, but also the lives and stories of the people in the neighborhood.
The mural adorns the walls surrounding the old Hospital de Clínicas located near the Paraguay River. The Hospital was built in 1877 and served the community up until 2012, before being relocated to San Lorenzo, almost an hour drive away. The mural site is also home to the rst hospital school established in 1884, where students continue to study for their pre-med exams at the Facultad De Ciencias Medícas UNA.
During our time researching and designing for the project we hosted workshops, inviting community members to share their own stories and ideas. The information collected from the workshops and our research were what ultimately shaped the mural’s theme and content.
For over 100 years, the neighborhood has supported and has been supported by the hospital. During our meetings, residents spoke about how the culture of the neighborhood has drastically changed since the relocation of the hospital. Many spoke about the vendors that used to line the streets feeding the students, patients and doctors, and recollections of the restaurants and bars that have since closed. There were stories about patients waiting under the trees outside the hospital, and fond memories of the conversations and community that was built through that process.
During these meetings we learned that the hospital was not only a place to receive free medical care, but it also served as the local site of resistance. There is a long history of nurses and doctors who stood up against social rights and humanitarian violations and the many moving stories essential to that time. One woman at our meeting who worked as a nurse in the hospital, recalled a day in 1986 when the government army surrounded the hospital preventing the nurses and doctors from entering or leaving. Others shared stories of marches they had participated in that were led by faculty.
There were further stories about the challenges the hospital faced, such as working without the funding and resources they needed. For those who did not live in the neighborhood, they shared stories of traveling to the hospital, caring for someone when they were sick or the experience of being cared for by someone else. In this way, all in the circle had a space and opportunity to recount the stories most signicant to them.
After several meetings, the ideas were gathered and woven together to create a uni ed composition. Not only were there many people from the neighborhood attending the meetings, but there were also artists from neighboring cities that traveled great distances to join us. Many of the artists who attended our rst meeting, contributed throughout the entire process, working together to prime and paint the wall.
The mural was created through an incredible coordination of time, resources, and efforts. Through that process we came to discover more about the signi cant location in which we had the privilege to work, as well as the people we were collaborating alongside of.
Ideas and themes of working in union, the joys and sorrows of life, and the value of family and community are what the mural constitutes. It is a narrative of the past, as well as a vision for the hopes and dreams for the future. The ideas and themes embodied by the mural are the same concepts that sparked its creation. The mural is a testimony to the importance and power of working side by side to create something larger than ourselves; something conceived, shaped, and shared that will endure as the years come and pass generation to generation.
Our hope is that this is only the beginning of an ongoing exchange of artists traveling to Kansas and Paraguay to create work within the communities in each location. I look forward to seeing the projects that develop not only through the international connections and friendships that that are forged, but also through the artists who became acquainted with one another for the rst time during the project.