Black & Afro-Latin

In the last of three articles, Dan Baron continues his reliving of the Backyard Drums as it evolves into the AfroRaiz Collective, coordinators of the Rios de Encontro community arts education project based in Cabelo Seco, the 'poor' founding village of Marabá, Pará, in the Brazilian Brazil. Tensions flare among the young people, as they ‘learn to listen: to learn, rather than to gossip and slash the wings of those who want to fly.’

First of a three-part series in which Dan Baron traces the evolution of the poor children from Cabelo Seco, Marabá, Pará, into a collective of recognized Amazonian artists and leaders of their community.

In the second of three articles, Dan Baron continues his review of the eco-cultural project he has been coordinating in the Brazilian Amazon with young people from Marabá, Pará, in the Brazilian Amazon since 2009. He revisits the history of the Backyard Drums group as it becomes the collective pulse of the the over-arching Rios de Encontro project.

The Festival of Latin American Anti-Racist and Decolonial Art launched an online exhibition and showcased work from Latin American artists at the forefront of antiracist struggles.

Museum of Afro-diasporic history in Quibdó, Colombia, was forced to close due to ongoing intimidation and violent threats from armed groups in the Chocó region. US-based academics, Colombian journalists, and Afro-Colombian Vice President Francia Marquez speak out. 

Through secretly filmed performances with members of marginalized communities – including Indigenous, queer, and Afro-Colombian people – La Nave provides a unique insight into the Carnaval de Barranquilla, northern Colombia’s biggest cultural event. 

Elite Squad and Narcos star Wagner Moura presents an emotive portrait of Afro-Brazilian writer-politician Carlos Marighella – a force de resistance against the 1960s military dictatorship and an inspirational icon for revolutionaries across the globe.

This issue of Voz focuses on women’s creative acts of memorialization and commemoration, demonstrating how acts of mourning become sites of mobilization, active resistance, and empowerment. It highlights the power of the arts in denouncing and resisting state violence and impunity.

The RECLAMA project in Esmeraldas province empowered Afro-Ecuadorean women to document their culture and heritage and to speak out with pride

'We saw the meeting of official symbols with transgressive, popular, and marginal symbols.' Three experts analyse the aesthetics and symbolism of Gustavo Petro's inauguration ceremony last month.