Colombian art workshop shares message of peace

Sitting side-by-side in pairs, Koreans and expats from Colombia, Spain, Venezuela and other Spanish-speaking countries threaded colorful beads at the instructions of Mateo Perea Bernal, artist and founder of Colombian art collective Tejidos...

Beadwork of Tejidos Chakana, a Colombian art collective, exhibited on campus of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul on Thursday. The exhibition runs through Friday. [EMBASSY OF COLOMBIA IN SEOUL]

Sitting side-by-side in pairs, Koreans and expats from Colombia, Spain, Venezuela and other Spanish-speaking countries threaded colorful beads at the instructions of Mateo Perea Bernal, artist and founder of Colombian art collective Tejidos Chakana, in Seoul on Thursday.

“This particular workshop gives space and time for the participants to put their heads together to work with the beads and threads,” Bernal told the audience gathered at the Kyobo building in central Seoul.

With the support of the Colombian Embassy in Seoul, Bernal hosted the beadwork workshops in Seoul and Busan this week, marking the organization’s first in Asia.

Participants need not speak any Spanish, Korean, or any language for that matter, to be able to attend the workshop, said Bernal.

“Art has a way of communicating without words,” he said, as he moved from one table to another to assist the participants with the initial needlework needed to start beading.

Mateo Perea Bernal, artist and founder of Tejidos Chakana, far right, explains during a beadwork workshop in Seoul on Thursday. Participants in the first row include Ambassador of Colombia to Korea Alejandro Pelaez Rodriguez, third from left. [ESTHER CHUNG]

It is a simple workshop, and one that has been used many times in Colombia, especially by relatives of veterans and victims of the country's civil conflicts. Up to 90 percent of the participants of these workshops were mothers and wives who lost family members in civil strife, according to Tejidos Chakana.

After hours of group effort, the women would produce beadwork portraits of their sons and husbands.

“It is our hope that at the end of each workshop, the participants not only have an artwork in their hands but also new friendships,” said Bernal.

Mateo Perea Bernal, artist and founder of Tejidos Chakana, left, shows photos of women in Colombia who participated in the organization's workshops to produce beadwork portraits of the sons they lost during Colombia's civil conflicts. [ESTHER CHUNG]

One participant to the workshop in Seoul, Shin Sun-young, said she found a universal message in the workshop that could apply to communities in Korea.

“It was lovely to witness the grassroots movement in Colombia,” said Shin, who engages with civic societies regularly as a vice president of Seoul International Women’s Association. “As the ambassador noted, I also think there is much to connect between the Colombian efforts for peace and Korea’s spirit for reform and development.”

Alejandro Pelaez Rodriguez, ambassador of Colombia to Korea, in his opening speech at the workshop highlighted Korea’s rapid economic development after the 1950-53 Korean War, heralding it as a benchmark example for the Colombian model of development.

“In 2016, the Colombian government signed a peace treaty with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia,” said Pelaez Rodriguez. “This peace process that began in Colombia will be the foundation for the country’s economic prosperity and peace based on democratic principles – the same values that are respected in Korea.”

Bernal and his organization led similar workshops in the United Nations and Washington this year. Their tour will continue in Beirut, Lebanon, and Hanoi, Vietnam, in the following weeks.

Completed art works from Tejidos Chakana workshops [ESTHER CHUNG]

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]