I remember when I arrived in San Carlos, for the first time. Ready for a Spanish immersion in Antioquia, Colombia, the colourful murals caught my eye right away. All so colourful and bright!
Talking to some of the San Carlos habitants, I discovered that San Carlos had not always been such a colourful and safe town as it is now. I got curious about the story behind the murals and to learn more about the history of the town, I visited the Museo de memoria de Colombia. I also got to interview one of the artists of San Carlos’ murals.
At the museum you will find letters, pieces of the newspaper and paintings about those grey pages in San Carlos’ history. You will see pictures of multiple people who lost their beloved ones and even the cilinder of a bomb, found in 2012. So, what happened in San Carlos? Not that long ago, in the 1990’s, there was a conflict going on in Colombia. Two armed fractions, the guerrillas and the paramilitaries, took control over various areas throughout the country. In 1999 San Carlos was invaded by those groups, who had the intention of seizing land to cultivate drugs while recruiting people to combat each other. During ‘la época de la violencia’, San Carlos was one of the most affected municipalities, so you can imagine it was not a safe place to live at all. Therefore a lot of innocent citizens were forced to leave and San Carlos was left a ghost town.
Early 2000, the tragedy came to an end. People who vacated in search of safety, returned and with the help of the government they started rebuilding what was left of San Carlos. (Learn more about the time of the war and transformation of San Carlos in this article from the New York Times)
Mural in the museo de la memoria: Collective memory: Good memory allows us to learn from the past, because the only meaning that the recovery of the past has is that it serves for the transformation of the present time. “Let your heart remember with as little pain and as much commitment as possible”. “They only cease to exist when we have forgotten them”.
This is when José López known as Joselo), artist of many of the murals in San Carlos, started painting as well. First, he started small. But as he saw the positive effect of the murals on the citizens, he started to make more and made it his profession.
A couple of students and Joselo and I at the culture hose
He transformed many places that were once scenes of violence into meeting places to rewrite history. By talking to the inhabitants of the area he heard their stories of the conflict and that’s where the ideas for a lot of the murals came from. Even though the conflict, through the eyes of the citizens, is his inspiration, the murals don’t look violent. It’s not easy to remember what happened in San Carlos, but he thinks the town and the way it changed after the conflict can be a great example to the rest of the world.
Right now, Joselo painted 137 murals in San Carlos, each with its own story. He did not paint them all by himself, but together with national and international artists. Every year they meet during ‘Memoria Todo Color’ to listen to stories of the region that show the culture of the people and the country. The artists then create those stories into murals on the walls of San Carlos.
Are you planning to visit Colombia? Come to San Carlos and enjoy a variety of natural and cultural activities, learn more here
So nowadays you can enjoy the beautiful murals on every corner. They reflect and represent the culture, history, idiosyncrasy, the beautiful flora and fauna and most of all, the projections of each inhabitant of the town. To show Colombia and the rest of the world: San Carlos is more than the conflict. Come and see for yourself! You won’t be disappointed.