Weaving Nature is an artist collective formed by a textile artist, a furniture designer, a community artist and a writer. Weaving Nature facilitated a participatory art workshop in the community of Guatavita in Cundinamarca, Colombia, during August 2016. Weaving Nature created spaces for addressing environmental and sustainability issues in the village of Guatavita through art-making in the form of textiles and compost bins. This group makes active, socially engaged art through collaboration with local women artisans to build understanding and connection between art, space and community.
The story of El Grupo Artesanal Chaleche began on Oct. 31, 1975 with the initiative of a woman from Bogotá, Colombia named Anita Del Castillo. Initially, Castillo's primary goal was to build a cooperative for women in order for them to sustain their families without having to commute far from their homes every day. In the beginning, EGAC had only 12 women working on various wool products including crochet carpets, tapestry and ruanas. Soon their wool products gained more recognition and new artisans joined.
When working with these women, our goal was not only to come up with solutions to make natural dyeing more economic, but also to engage young generations from the village and bring back to life the value of craft. The most gratifying part of the project was learning about the artisans and building a lifelong friendship of unconditional support.
Camilo is a queer latino artist from Bogotá, Colombia, who feels both responsible and passionate about making art that gives visibility to the oppressed. He intends to awaken moral resistance from vivid images of physical resistance. You can view more of his work at www.zencraftbycamilo.com.