• A delegation led by the Ambassador of the European Union in Colombia, the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Director of Reintegration of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia opened the Second Workshop on Documentary Photography for Peace: "Anorí, Photography Takes the Mountain," in the former Territorial Area for Training and Reintegration La Plancha, in Anorí, Antioquia.
• A group of 45 photojournalists, including 24 people working through their reintegration processes from different regions of the country, came together to participate in this experience led by photographers Sara Aliaga (Bolivia) and Federico Ríos (Colombia).

The Ambassador of the European Union in Colombia, Gilles Bertrand; the Resident Representative of the UNDP in Colombia, Sara Ferrer Olivella; and the Director of Reintegration of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, Alessandro Preti.

A delegation comprised by the Ambassador of the European Union in Colombia, Gilles Bertrand; the Resident Representative of the UNDP in Colombia, Sara Ferrer Olivella; the Head of the Romanian Mission, Claudia Tuşa; and the Director of Reintegration of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, Alessandro Preti, visited the former Territorial Area for Training and Reintegration La Plancha, in Anorí, Antioquia.

The delegation accompanied a group of 45 photographers—including 24 former-FARC combatants—from different regions of the country who are participating in the Second Workshop on Documentary Photography for Peace "Anorí: Photography Takes the Mountain."
 

Colombian photojournalists at the Second Workshop on Documentary Photography for Peace “Anorí: Photography Takes the Mountain”.

Photojournalists Sara Aliaga (Bolivia) and Federico Ríos (Colombia) lead this meeting organized by the Miradas Collective with the support of UNDP Colombia, Comfama, the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, and the European Union. Participants include former-FARC combatants from the reintegration areas in Cali (Valle del Cauca), Tierra Grata (Cesar), Patía (Cauca), Icononzo (Tolima), Ituango (Antioquia), Carrizal (Remedios, Antioquia), Llano Grande (Dabeiba, Antioquia), Mandé (Urrao, Antioquia), La Plancha (Anori, Antioquia), Vista Hermosa (Meta), Buenaventura (Valle del Cauca), Los Palmitos (Sucre), Medellín, and Bogotá.

“What strikes me about this project is its territorial approach, its ability to involve leaders from many territories who are working together in a network, and its novel approach which focuses on building an innovative and creative culture of peace. You are building new imaginaries and new narratives that represent bonds of dignity and collective memory. War and hatred are born in people’s hearts too, as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has reiterated. “The bastions of peace have to be built in people’s hearts,” said Alessandro Preti, Director of Reintegration of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia.

“Hope is reinstated when you visit a place that has been historically affected by war and the absence of the State and see these initiatives to overcome the conflict through art and culture. This project has spawned an impressive creative dynamic between internationally recognized photojournalists, signatories of the peace agreement, and highly talented community photographers. It is exciting to see people who have gone through the reintegration process look at their past through the lens of peacebuilding. I believe that their diverse trajectories and views can help change the perception of signatories of the peace agreement in sectors of Colombian society,” commented Gilles Bertrand, Ambassador of the European Union in Colombia.

The purpose of this visit was also to learn about the progress and status of the productive projects being carried out by signatories of the peace agreement in this region under the “La Montaña” brand. Among them, apparel, essences, and honey stand out, several of them with international support and support from the United Nations.
 

Confecciones La Montaña was part of the first round of initiatives with extra-budgetary (XB) Mission funds, coming from the French Embassy, and has had support from the UNDP, the National Training Service (SENA, as per its Spanish acronym), and the Agency for Reincorporation and Standardization (ARN, per its Spanish acronym). In 2021, it became one of the National Council for Reincorporation’s (CNR, as per its Spanish acronym) collective projects, with seed capital for 24 men and women.

The delegates of the European Union and the United Nations spoke with the leaders of this territory, who, in addition to the products under the “La Montaña” brand, are making progress on other initiatives such as an eco-brick factory, a beer brewery, and a fish farm. Despite exposing some difficulties for the sustainability of these reintegration actions, meeting attendees expressed their commitment to the Peace Agreement.
 

A Story That Began in Tierra Grata

In 2021, the Miradas Collective managed and carried out the first edition of the workshop on documentary photography in the Territorial Area of Tierra Grata in the Municipality of Manaure, Cesar. The initiative originated within the framework of the 5-year commemoration of the Peace Agreement as a contribution to building individual and collective memory, attributing new meaning to spaces, and to the immaterial reparation of the communities that, for more than 50 years, were affected by the actions of FARC-EP.
 

Photojournalists Sara Aliaga (Bolivia) and Federico Ríos (Colombia) lead this meeting.

From this experience, the group managed to consolidate a support network of 38 photographers who, from their different perspectives, have continued to portray stories from each of the 16 territories they live in and who, as a result of that meeting, significantly transformed the beliefs they previously had of the signatories of the peace agreement.

For this second edition, the photojournalists met in La Plancha, Anorí, from 18-21 August. The outcome will not only be photographs, but also a documentary that will be premiered in November.
 

Gina Parra, a member of the Miradas Collective, highlighted how photography and culture are an innovative and unprecedented proposal in the implementation of the Peace Agreement in Colombia and in the process of social and economic reintegration. "It opens the door for rebuilding the social fabric, repairing the territories, and transforming the beliefs of various social actors who, from their struggles, seek collective wellbeing and succeed in connecting and sensitizing society emotionally and humanely," said the photographer.

The Workshop Leaders:
 

Sara Aliaga Ticona, Photojournalist

Social communicator, Bolivian photojournalist, Aymara visual storyteller, winner of the Photo Book Award with PhotoEvidence and World Press Photo together with COVIDLATAM, 2021. Third-place winner of the POY Latam in the Patient Categories, 2021. The first-place winner of the POY Latam for Best Use of Online Photography with COVIDLATAM, 2021. Winner of the National Geographic emergency fund 2020. Published in The New York Times, The Guardian, La Barra Espaciadora, El País, an investigative magazine from the University of Bern in Switzerland, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung Newspaper, Reuters, AP, Indiginous Magazine, and Kultur Austausch. Exhibitions in New York, Paris, Normandy, Canada, India, Antarctica, Milan, Switzerland, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia.

Federico Ríos Escobar, Photojournalist

Federico Ríos Escobar, Colombian, began his career working as a photographer for the newspapers El Espectador and El Tiempo, as well as for the international press agency EFE, and as an external collaborator for several national magazines. He later worked for international media outlets such as The New York Times, National Geographic, Stern, Geo, Times Magazine, Paris Match, and Leica Magazine, among others. His photographs have won the Hansel-Mieth Preiss Award in Germany (2019); First Prize POY Latam News Series (2017); Special Prize by Jury at Days Japan, International Photojournalism Award (2017); Portfolio Review New York Times 2017; and the Eddie Adams Workshop XXVII in New York (2014).   In 2012, he published the photography book La ruta del cóndor under the publishing seals of the Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano and the Universidad de Caldas; and in 2013 he published Fiestas de San Pacho, Quibdó, together with the photography collective +1. In 2021, he published the book VERDE with the Raya publishing house, together with editor Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo. Verde has been part of the MoMA bookstore collection since early 2022.
 

Elizabeth Yarce Ospina
Strategic Communication Officer – Medellín
United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia