"Speech is blasphemy, silence a lie. Above speech and silence there is a way out." I-tuan
I visited the Esperanza Peace and Justice Centre in San Antonio. Esperanza is the Spanish word for Hope. As I walked into the lobby I was greeted by brightly coloured walls - lime green, purple and yellow. There is a hand painted sign on the wall, lime green with a beautiful floral green border. On the sign, two women dressed in the bright colours I had seen on the indigenous women in Mexico, are holding up a sign that says 'Bienvenidos a Nuestra Hogar", Welcome to our Home". I immediately felt like I had come home. This place was true to my heart, a place of beauty, a place that integrates art and life with hope and healing for all those members of the who have been wounded by domination and inequality. www.esperanzacentre.org.
Esperanza is located just North of downtown San Antonio, in a renovated 1910 building, which was once a car dealership. The entrance way is lined with bookshelves and bulletin boards, laden with pamphlets, flyers and booklets advertising upcoming events and providing free information on numerous topics to all who venture in through their door. There is La Voz de Esperanza newsletter, a flyer announcing the upcoming Cesar E. Chavez March for Justice, a poster offering free HIV testing, pamphlets on women's history, and an invite to an upcoming book launch. I realize that this place is serious about it's commitment to integrating arts and social justice before I even walk through the door.
Passing through the old wooden door frames, I step into a world of women and divinity. A bright pink sign announces the exhibit that is currently inhabiting the lobby and gallery of Esperanza. "Mujeres: Divinas y Humanas, Women: Divine and Human" the sign says. The exhibit, which I take in just momentarily as I am whisked into the main office, is an exhibit of the works of the women of the Castillo Family of Puebla, Mexico. The Castillo family has a long tradition of making beautiful clay works of art and have recently been focusing on arboles de la vida or trees of life, which tell stories of family,community and society.
The exhibits celebrates and honours working women -- the tortillera, the woman weaver, the florist, the woman artist who works in clay -- as the centre of the community. It portrays the integration of working woman's inherent struggle to survive with women's divine knowledge. I later picked up the pamphlet from the exhibit. It quotes one of the artists, Veronica Castillo, as saying that "women are constantly struggling to be respected and achieve their rightful place". The art works are visual protests against the subjugation of women. The artists, women who do not participate in marches or demonstrations, remind us of the strength of women and encourage women to find our voices, our beauty and our inner divinity.
I walk into the deep red communal office space, which also serves as a library and computer training centre and am drawn in by the beautiful artwork on the wall. Almost every inch of the red walls that are not covered by bookshelves or a beautiful artistically aligned row of clipboards, is adorned with a piece of artwork. The centre piece is a large stunning piece with an older Hispanic woman in the centre. The reds in the piece meld into the reds on the wall, causing the women to look like she was peering over a back yard wall, looking into the office. I am stunned by the beauty of this place of work, that looked more like an art gallery than the office of any non-governmental organization I have ever visited. The office in itself shows that they walk with talk of their slogan "Arte es Vida, Art is Life".
The room was a beehive of activity. There were four staff members and two students amidst a cluster of desks with computers, an open working space and a workspace for students. Despite all the activity Graciella, the executive director, and Jennifer, one of the program staff, took the time to show me around and tell me about their programs. They have a long history of working with community healing, in both the traditional and non-traditional sense. Graciella tells me about the Mexican traditional healer who periodically come to share her knowledge and talents with the local San Antonio community. "We always get an incredible line up when she comes to town" she says. Last time she did a meditation and cleansing ceremony that lasted all morning and then spent the afternoon sharing her knowledge about the healing properties of the different herbs and remedies she used in her practice."
Cristal, a local healer and sobadora, also does work with Esperanza, sometimes that involves hands on work and sometime it's as simple as referring a phone call from someone in the community who calls to find out the recipe for a traditional cure that the grandmas used to use. Validating, respecting and preserving traditional knowledge about herbal medicine, curanderismo and Mexican folk medicine is a part of their mandate of hope. Graciella asks how long I plan to be in town and invites me to come back and find out more.
I am given a tour of the Esperanza space. The art gallery takes up most of the first floor besides the office space. We head up the stairs, the walls of which are also decorated with artwork. On the second floor there is an open space with a stage and overhead track lighting. I am told that the space is used for performances, dances and other programing. The kitchen and snack bar is decorated with a group of hanging puppets and papermache dragons left from an earlier performance. Arte is indeed a central part of the Vida of the organization.
I am told that much of the programing that Esperanza offers takes place within the community, the barrio,itself. There the Esperanza staff facilitate community discussions about the history and traditions of the pueblo or people of the barrio. They work on intergenerational programming identifying the knowledge keepers, the viejitas and viejitos and creating opportunities for them to share their knowledge with younger members of the community. Esperanza provides hope for a future where all knowledge, cultures and traditions are equally respected. It works with communities that have experienced marginalization to promote peace, facilitate economic justice and revive and preserve traditions that are central to the local culture of diverse communities, especially the diverse Hispanic communities.
Lessons Learned: 1) Arte es Vida. Art allows us to see the world the way it is and to envision the world the way we would like it to be, 2)Women's humanity and our divinity are both central to our roles as keepers of culture. Honouring and celebrating our beauty and our strength, knowing our worth, is vital to creating a culture of hope, peace and justice, 3)Art and culture connect us with our histories, give us joy and hope, and plant the seed for our self-worth.
Stay Tuned. StayWell and Travel with Spirit, Spirit Traveller.
