Ana Sofia Goyes

Acts of Care, Acts of Resistance: Mixed media animation loops exploring gestures of care—rituals, celebrations, and remedies—shared with my mother during my early childhood. Set against the backdrop of the Colombian armed conflict, these memories reveal care as a form of resistance and tenderness as a conscious response to fear.

The project emerges from a personal archive of family photographs and a series of interviews with my mother, through which we collaboratively traced memories of caregiving during times of conflict. The images are physically intervened using materials such as thread, flowers, and rosemary, among others—elements rooted in my mother’s gestures of care towards me. These tactile traces are scanned and animated, transforming intimate acts of protection into a visual language of embodied memory.

Context:

The armed conflict in Colombia arose from deep social inequality, political exclusion, and neglect by the state. For decades, illegal armed groups, state forces, and irregular militias carried out systematic violence against the civilian population.

Although the 2016 Peace Agreement marked a significant step forward, the country continues to live in an incomplete peace and a post-conflict period still marked by violence.

Amidst fear and conflict, my mother's gestures of care became a daily resistance.