We are thoroughly enjoying the incredible, culturally rich, and diverse city of Santiago, Chile. We wake up in the morning surrounded by the snow covered Andean mountains and do our morning yoga to the rising sun. Some mornings I stroll out to the main square and play my classical guitar. It is a city of an old and gracious charm, yet it is vibrant with terrific music, dance, art, and performance.
This has been a time of great transformation and for Zoe and me to focus even more clearly on our B4 Peace and social transformation projects. We send you the warmth of the Chilean summer and great joy.
We can scarcely believe that after a year of working on this, it is ready to happen at the end of the week. This MHD 40 Human Rights art at Villa Grimaldi www.villagrimaldi.cl is very important to us. It brings together all of the elements of the projects we have been working on for many years The 100 Flowers of peace banners in 100 languages will be installed at this event. The Amnesty tower has been transformed into the “Heroes of Peace,” with the names of prominent heroes of human rights in Chile. In the performance it will include poems of Neruda, the beautiful songs of Victor Jara, and a poem I wrote Wind Howling in the Night the story of a girl living next to a center for torture.
The performance MHD 40 seeks, in a modest way, to incorporate the idea of ritual, dance, songs, music, and story to not just commemorate the events of the past 40 years and the coup d’etat, but to take this experience and transform it.
This is the essential process, to transform the pain and loss, into the possibility of a new beginning. This is the essence of social transformation, not to simple change, but to transform down at a cellular level, both personally and as a society. We hold these memories of loss and trauma as part of our bodies and spirits. The aim with this performance, art, dance, and celebration is to open the door of possibilities.
When we meet and talk with people throughout Santiago, everyone has a story about how their lives were impacted by the time of the dictatorship. It is serendipitous that this year a book I had written years ago about my experience of working with AIDS patients Journal of the Plague: Living and Working with AIDS had been published. http://www.unlimitedpublishing.com/namaya. Many of my experiences as healer, artist, poet, and multicultural teacher have come together in this work.
For Zoe, her very rich experiences with community projects, health, and Journey Dance come together for this event. Also, it helps that we speak Spanish. This journey has been personally powerfully transformative, deepening our understanding of how we can create more of these peace arts projects. At the heart of it is the ability to deeply listen
We are grateful to be here in Santiago, working with the artists, musicians, and performers, and with our friends at Villa Grimaldi. Villa Grimaldi was a place of torment and death for 236 people during the Pinochet years, and thousands more were tortured. Once a horrific and sadistic place, it is now a Garden of Peace. We are honored to present our songs, dance, and poems of peace. www.villagrimaldi.cl. Our friend Dean, Art Rat Chief Engineer, is flying in to help with this project! Thanks also to the many people who have been helping with this project from around the world
I am always astonished to see a play transform and come to life. Yesterday, we had another rehearsal with Tar Danza one of our dance groups. I had sketched out the story and the choreography, and then gave it to Yasna Leppe the choreographer for the group, and I was moved almost to tears
in seeing the final presentation. I’ve had the same experience with our Mapuche dance group, led by Cristin Waman, this brilliant choreographer who weaved together the traditional Mapuche Dance of creation and wove
it into the story of MDH 40 With the dancers of Tar Danza, we walked inside the water tower that was once a center of torture. This water tower that stands less than 20 meters from the stage still resonates with the pain and memory of these events. : This space is sacred; this space is holy; it is blessed and profaned. The sounds ofthe birds are so light and beautiful this morning.
Last week, we met with Francisco Sanfuentes, the director of the art program at the University of Chile, and a marvelous artist in his own right. Professor Sanfuentes has facilitated a meeting for us, with a large group of art students at the University. We spoke to the students about the project, “Silence is Complicity,” The idea is simple: We cut fabric into one-meter squares bearing the words SILENCE IS COMPLICITY, and we give students permission to interpret this however they want, within the parameters of Villa Grimaldi.
We were inspired by this conversation with the art students and dancers! What is the role of the artist in society? I spoke of my growing understanding of the artist as “Curandero,” engaged in the journey as healer. “Healer” does not resonate as clearly as “Curandero.” Another word that is incredibly powerful is “Bruja.” Though it is fraught with negative connotations, it is potent and clear. The two parts integrate well – the healer and the magician/ bruja- not the negative connotation, but the action of transformation.
We also spoke with professors of Anthropology at the University the impact of the dictatorship and the national trauma of these events. A half hour meeting turned into a three hour discussion. Everyone we have met has some story, either about themselves or their family, and how they were impacted by the events of those years.
Zoe and I along with our art Rat team have been making these peace arts projects around the world. Whether at the Clearwater Festival in NY, the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, the Peace Abbey in Boston, the “B All You Can be 4 Peace” flash mob in NYC, the Israel/ Palestine “Witness to Genocide” project in Copley Square, the “Cost of War” project in Vermont, or the performance in Palestine, each one of these projects has the critical components of Art, Word, Performance, and Dialogue. At each of these we events we engage people in these critical conversations how do we find peace? How do we find hope? How is there healing?
With this presentation at Villa Grimaldi we will weave art, poems, songs, and performance into this presentation MEMORIA. HABLAR.DIGNIDAD. In the closing ceremony, we will sing the song “Gracias Al Vida,” by Violeta Para. “Give Thanks to Life.” At the end of the presentation, we will sit down with the audience, have a glass of wine, and talk to the audience.
If you would like to contribute to the www.gracecares.org and the b4 peace project, please, your donations are appreciated.
We received an invitation to install the Inevitability of Peace and 100 Flowers project at World Learning in Vermont in May. June 2014 Clearwater Festival Art Projects. We are also looking at the International Peace Arts Conference in Turkey in late August. I have several projects that we are actively working in Chile, and one at the Museum/ Former Prison in Valparaiso.
Zoe and I are both very grateful to be doing this work, and we appreciate all of your support.
Abrazos
Namaya Y Zoe
GRACE CARES UPDATE:
2013 has been abundant year! We just received news that one of the Grace Cares projects on traditional botanical medicines in Guatemala has been complete. The project was to develop how to use medicinal herbs of the Mayan Highland. Also, we, Grace Cares with our team Project Hearts, have completed a High School in the Dominican Republic. We will return to Dominican Republic in February for project work.
www.villagrimaldi.cl
www.b4peace.net & www.gracecares.org
Información para la prensa o entrevistas – Tel:88319217
Facebook:
MemoriaHablarDignidad
International Cooking:
Gracias a la Vida
EcoLodge at Isla Negra,
making dinner with
friends from France
and Chile.
Everyone in the kitchen,
making sauce, pasta,
garlic bread, salad,
tomato tortes, apple pies,
and drinking good wine.
The conversation is a mix
of Spanish, French and
American accented Spanish,
a bit of French, a dash of English,
a dollop of Algerian Arabic,
and a generous helping of laughter
and good cheer.
Odd, I was thinking of the
story of Christmas during
WW I when the troops declared
a cease fire on Christmas day
and both sides came together
to celebrate with food and wine.
The ocean waves rolling
on to the shore in the distance,
and finally after more than
an hour and a half of cooking
we sit down to feast.
We join hands and give thanks
for this abundance, and raise
our glass of wine to toast
to good health and life.
