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Carlos’ Story
American artist (Graphic Art)
Carlos Reynoso, a graphic designer from
New York City, was placed in Uspantan, in Quiche, Guatemala. He
was working with an organization concerned with promoting
children's rights. He helped children make posters, many
murals, and decorated the schools.
Carlos:
In 2002, for the period of nine months, I
found myself in the Eternal Spring as a member of ArtCorps,
aiming at using art as a tool of communication.
As we all know, the children are the
future of any nation. Given this fact my task was to work with
the children of Uspantan, a region devastated by the conflict
that for three decades inflicted utter devastation upon
Guatemala. I worked in conjunction with a local organization to
achieve our goals of promoting and fostering the right of the
child through art.
My “art” per se was not used,
but my CREATIVITY certainly was. The ideas was to allow the
participants to use their own creativity so that they could
understand their rights through creation of ART itself. So they
did, their own creativity was the source, the wealth if you
will, for the creation of the given projects.
As far as using local materials, we did
use as much as necessary. Shortly after I first arrived, I was
walking on an empty street and came across a man butchering a
cow. He greeted me as I did too. "How much for the
tail?" I asked. "You can have it, it is
useless," he said. As I then distanced my self from his
bloody self, he interrupted my exiting by asking me wat the
tail was for. "Paint brushes", I said. "You must
be the artist we have heard about," he said. "No, but
I will be using art," I replied. "Oh!" he said,
as I walked away, tail in hand, through a deserted town,
leaving behind a trail of blood. Another time, when we needed
more brushed, a little girl suggested that we borrow hair from
a horse's tail that was just standing around. We did.
In a place like Guatemala, it is virtually
impossible not to incorporate elements of culture when the
creative process takes hold, simply because "culture"
and traditions are so very prevalent in the eternal spring.
Culture, ideas and traditions touch almost every element of
life in Guatemala; therefore, when creating in such an
environment, incorporating these elements is a fundamental
requirements, especially when the creations are carried out by
the inhabitants of the land.
As the main goal of this project was to
achieve and verify the validity of communication through art, I
must admit that to my judgement the primary goal was achieved.
As proof of this, I would just have to quote a single comment
by a 14 year old girl from one of the aldeas we worked in, as I
went to say good-bye.
Amongst other moving comments from other
kids, hers—Mirna—was particularly moving.
“Thank you,” she said “for working with us.
Because of what WE, as a group, achieved. We not only
understand art and its endless possibilities, but, because of
it, we understand our rights as children better."
Upon my first encounter with one of the
adult workers from the NGO, we both agreed that we would use
not not just to "beautify" the individual schools,
but to use it as a tool so that the kids would get to
understand their rights as dictated in the "convencion
sobre los derechos de la Ni–ez". That was the goal
that we set for ourselves, and I am honestly certain that we
achieved it, the proof being the knowledge now enjoyed by the
kids we were so fortunate to work with.
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