Pintando Santa Catarina Palopo | Melissa Whitbeck & Harris Whitbeck | TEDxGuatemalaCitySalon

[Music]

good morning sr

this gentleman is called pablo lópez and

machi

at the same time he was a farmer fisherman

guardian of a chalet in santa catarina

He stuck but one month ago he became

in artist he became an agent of

social change

through this program that is called

pitando santa catarina palopó that

aims to transform communities

art medium

how many know santa catarina here ok

good as you see is a town of more or

less 4 thousand inhabitants is in the

north basin of Lake Atitlán and if

one sees it from the air it looks like a canvas

blank a canvas that we what

we got for a work of art but

also a canvas for change

santa catarina is a town that is

hungry for the change that brings

improvements and community development

the project that just started makes a

month

there are many people involved people from the

community leaders civil leaders

municipal donors important here

in the city and in our case it comes out

as they were known before and now

proud to be neighbors of san pedro and

St. Catarina

Well the project was born as an idea

family because we have always

had a lot of affection on the side and always

we had looked for family forms

to be able to reach these communities and

be able to improve their quality of life

when I visit my family’s house

in atitlan he always asks me about

who was this picture so ugly that

It was hanging on the wall of the room and

years later I found out that the artist

it was harris the good thing I’m about to see now

must show that he does not like my work

of art

the good thing is that he was not the only artist

in the family and I never imagined

that twenty years later I was going to be

leading an art project in santa

catarina palopó oy the idea is born very

genuinely on a walk that

we were making a path up

santa catarina and we were talking

how could we work in that

community and that is how we think

how important it would be to paint

a community and all the changes that

could come behind that and for

course here is the scenario

perfect to do so is and holy

Ladybird in particular is very

interesting because it ‘s a town that

is very connected to your story with

its with its culture is a very

creative and they really were when they

he presented the opportunity to express

who are at the cultural level of the

immediately they launched the project is a

village traditionally dedicated to

fishing and agriculture and they see that

those economic activities the two

are seriously threatened now

agriculture because there are no more land

where they can be grown and fishing by

the environmental threat situation that

is suffering the lake of atitlan

then what they want to do is

appeal to his incredible creative talent

the craft work to be able

attract more tourists more than

tourists that are already going to the basin

distinguish your community so that it attracts

more tourists and go developing

more more company and more employment

good investigating a bit and how

we could do we got to know the

Dutch artists ja sheehan

maybe some of you recognize these

Photographs

they are famous for the work that

they did in the river favelas in Brazil

then we contacted them and the

We invite you to participate in Guatemala for

that they could work in the community and

that they serve as guides and

facilitators to be able to recognize the

colors and the design that best represents

community

they have just been in guatemala

working two weeks with 20 leaders

community

and at the beginning of this of this workshop

we wanted to achieve a way to unite

truly with the culture then

We were received by Mrs. Juan who is

a spiritual leader in santa catarina

and she gave us the blessing to be able

start the project

we work hand in hand with 20 leaders

Community organizations that represent many

groups of santa catarina palopó

then we had master artists of

we all had different women

weavers then we try to search

the different areas to be able

achieve much more participation

active in the workshop a and how good

they are artists but all of us who

we are in the second phase that is

Start now

basically it consists in joining more to the

community will start to mix paint

apply designs that are sending us

these these experts and start painting

it’s a phase that we do not know how much

time will last and frankly it’s a

phase that we do not want to end because

as long as there is dynamism while

creativity was making them arise

more projects and more initiatives to

community level

what is sought is to achieve to involve

the whole community and that own

community can make the engine of this

project is very important and very

interesting because we learned that santa

catarina palopó occupies the number place

six at the national level of participation

citizen

so the idea of this project is

achieve channeling all the interests that

there are in the community and all these groups

that are already active to achieve

understand the potential that a project

so you can have in this picture we can

see Lisa Ingrid they are two leaders

who worked in the workshop and she

They said how they had been an example

those two weeks for women who

work that lives in santa catarina

because they realized how they

They are up on stairs painting

scraping seems something that they had never

done before

then this is guiding them and the

this form

‘do and give future leaders

monitoring of this project already in the

community I already became a local and

children shout at me from the windows

melissa sausage and in addition to the

Community participation one aspect

very important of this project is the

environmental sustainability

As you know , Lake Atitlan is

seriously threatened but there are

solutions for to preserve this lake

which is the source of drinking water more

great of mesoamerica and that you have

what to protect

then a main component is the

type of paint that we are using

1,500 years ago the Mayans in the

Preclassic period used painting

based on lime and there is an example of that

painting in the gazebo and other places in

Petén and it’s a painting that well

applied and that well mixed can last

a lot of time and that also has

properties that are very good for

for the environment for families

fungicidal paint is anti streets

humidity has thermal properties that

they make the quality of life in the

houses painted with lime be much better

then it is technology that we are already

developing and applying again

and here are examples of some of the

of the paint applications of

I rated the first square that we painted in

santa catarina the possibility of a

project of this the increase in the

tourism guatemala has many many

opportunities to grow in the

tourism and that’s why it’s important

present different narratives

preferred to present different

projects that draw attention to

tourists arrive and visit these

places to realize the

different opportunities that can

have then we believe that with a

project of these to get more

tourists can make more restaurants

places to serve tourists

you’re even trying to get that

the community is organized to try

promote community tourism then

like all the guides that are already

organized in the community can create

a route

of hiking where all the tourists

can appreciate the project

different views the we believe that the

future of this is in the community and

in the way the community runs

the project and I managed to follow up and

that’s why we trust faithfully that

these leaders are joining are

uniting dreams purposes ideas and everything

that is coming to do a project

that color was the catalyst for

many of this city that people already

had

if it is a project that depends on the

people are the ones who decide how

wants to express for example you

they saw red and white colors and

then the green blues and purple jesus

that range of colors represents the huipil

that was used 50 years ago and the

modern huipil and it was their decision

that that would be would be his way of

Express oneself

I just want to finish saying something

we all know that guatemala started a

process of change and sometimes we

we frustrate because we feel that

process of changes has stalled but

for us this is an example of

things of almost subversive actions that

we can be doing in communities

to achieve changes in the way of

think of people in the way that they

relates the citizen to the

rulers is about empowering and it is

a small example of many things that

you can do the only thing you want is

start doing it if the incredible this

project is the potential that there is of

replicate it in other communities

then it is to look for a project that achieves

unite those who manage to awaken that

interest that already exists behind these

communities and achieve change and

final these months of work we have

realized that the change can be

paint

thank you very much

[Applause]