Tag Archives: bogota

Poster Art in Colombia

20 Monday May 2013

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Much has been made about the graffiti on show in Bogota, and indeed I am party to this, but for once we should take a look at graffiti art’s impoverished sibling, Poster Art. Bogota, Medellin, Cali and all of Colombia’s major cities are layered the stuff, harking back to a period before online marketing and nonsensical brain rot television. And while much of this poster advertising is unsightly and left to the mercy of the elements, no doubt, somewhere down the line we’ll reflect on this art form in a retrospective in the MaMBo and Bogota’s hipsters will gush from behind thick rimmed glasses.

Peeling posters in Bogota

Peeling posters in Bogota

My interest in Bogota’s poster art stems back a ways and the history is particularly convoluted. In an ill-advised move one summer my parents left me to fend for myself in London. I think I was seventeen years of age or thereabouts and had returned early from toiling in the Canadian Rockies. The benefits of a Canadian father you say, put to work from a young age…I digress. Anyway, on a strictly limited budget so that booze and other vices would not be available to me, I was left alone in a big apartment in the big city. After falling prey to the obvious pitfalls of teenage independence and rebellion and having worn out invitations at all my friends’ homes I started looking to find ways of filling my days. Lo and behold, there was a Poster Art exhibition on at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was nothing short of awe-inspiring.

Distinctly non political posters in Colombia

Distinctly non political posters in Colombia

And while now in London, poster art – correct me if I’m wrong – seems limited to publicizing the latest Top 10 wonder in the charts, here in Bogota it still bears a radio theme wherein the information should reach the masses. Be it sitting in a traffic jam along the Carrera 7 in a bus or taxi, wandering through the Candelaria, around the Macarena or beyond, poster publicity is everywhere.

Some of this poster art is purely advertorial, promoting the next “parranda vallenata” or Bruno Mars single, others for salsa concerts, there are even posters to publicize those who design, print and then put up the posters. But, keep an eye out, just as you would for interesting graffiti, for the curious and highly politicized posters.

creative political posters found in Bogota

creative and chilling political posters found in Bogota

You’ll find posters hollering in rage against various Free Trade Agreements, in opposition to bull fighting, remembering “disappeared people” or announcing the next protest march. These can be eye-catching, informative and very interesting from a cultural and historical perspective.

 

 

Do I live in the “Most Criminal City in the World?”

12 Sunday May 2013

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Apparently, according to German daily newspaper Bild Zeitung and the finely chosen words of scribe Ralf Schuler, I do indeed live in the “most criminal city in the world.”

Bogota skyline

Bogota skyline

How unfortunate for Mr. Schuler that during his press trip to Colombia he narrowly escaped being kidnapped by criminal gangs stepping off the jet way upon arrival at the shiny new El Dorado terminal, that he had to hole up in the Bronx where the only respite from the chilly high altitude nighttime bite was the bazuco offered in place of café Quindiano, that he dodged anti-aircraft fire from the FARC as his trip with German President Joachim Gauck took him from the capital to Medellin.

Now the Colombian press has gotten hold of Mr. Schuler’s article. And we like them are asking many of the same questions: “where and what are your sources for this article Mr. Schuler?”

from the German newspaper

from the German newspaper

Sunday’s article in El Tiempo is clearly meant to enrage, and it is working, with 541 comments and counting racked up at the base. There are 191 comments presently on the same article on the El Espectador site.

Mr. Schuler, What Have You Done?

Colombians are incredibly sensitive about the sort of criticism that now threatens to sully the careful branding that the country has been harvesting for nearly a decade. Converse with any Colombian and after lauding their country, the food, the people, the beaches and varied attractions, they will also be the first to complain about the insecurity, the corruption, the pollution and so on.

I would like to know how much Mr. Schuler actually knows of Colombia and whether he has been here for longer than the fleeting visit as part of the German President’s press corps. Colombia for a journalist is a hard sell as a good news item and there’s no knowing how long it will take to reverse the negativisms of the past 30 years. But, do we really need another piece of lazy reporting decanting virulent untruths?

So long a byword for cocaine and kidnapping, Colombia is now………. [fill in as you see fit].  

But, as one journalist addressing another Mr. Schuler, wouldn’t it have been more challenging and ultimately more satisfying to buck the odds and write about today’s Bogota? Yes, you may be going out on a limb to write well of gritty Bogota, a city not without her problems. But, now you will forever be remembered in the same breath as writer Thomas Kohnstamm (he of the Lonely Planet guidebook scandal).

Thomas Kohnstamm's book about travel writing

Thomas Kohnstamm’s book about travel writing

Now you have scores of resident expat journalists (sensitive pedants) and Colombians on your case. We can all assure you that Bogota is far from being the “most criminal city in the world.”

Thoughts on Becoming a Bogota House-Husband

08 Wednesday May 2013

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Yesterday, May 7 2013, was the day it dawned on me that I had become a Bogota house-husband. My travels have taken me all over the world, but principally through Latin America, and in this bastion of machismo where the thick veins of sexism run deep, I have become an aeonian presence in our apartment, the citadel of marital contentment.

House Husband

House Husband

And I speak not of just one day where I had to prepare breakfast, busy myself with the dishes, cook and pack up a lunch for my wife to take to work, walk the dog three times, go to the supermarket to stock the fridge, do the laundry, fold it (I draw the line at ironing), organize the house a little bit and then ensure that the bills are paid…this has become a habit.

And yesterday was miserable. It rained all day in some shape or form in Bogota rendering the city impossible. Truly abysmal weather. I remember how it was when I commuted from west London to Godalming, first on my bike and then hopping on the train at Clapham Junction for the rest of the journey into the well-healed suburbs of the capital. Were it raining and grey – as is the norm from October to May in the UK – thoughts would spring forth of calling in sick, pleading with the boss to be able to work from home or going AWOL to Rio and changing my email address.

So, I knew exactly how Alba felt when she drew the curtains back yesterday morning to see the diluvio affecting the city. “Go in late,” I said, “not a soul will be on time today.” And I was right. And I busied myself with the household chores. I guess I get it, I’ve been there.

War Correspondent

How has becoming a house-husband affected me?

In truth, when I tell people of my profession as a journalist, I hope they immediately envision a crusading Byronic type striving for justice in a cruel and unforgiving world, up against the trials of self-censorship in Colombia, and jumping nimbly from police helicopters whilst reporting on illegal mining in the interior and watching officials manually pulling coca plants from the soil in the zona roja. And of course, to some extent, I do report on issues of this nature. The only difference from the aforementioned swashbuckling image is that I am no longer nimble having undergone knee surgery which has kept me for the most part housebound of late.

House Husband

I am pretty sure that I am not this happy as a house-husband

The sad truth is that I can balance all of the household chores and write from home. There has been a major evolution in news journalism. On the spot reporting is becoming less and less the norm, although when I get the chance I leap at it. So much is done from a desk and interviews over the phone. Studying an interviewee’s facial reaction to a tricky line of questioning is now a thing of the past. I count myself amongst those journalists who thrive on observations, descriptions, imagery, legwork and investigation. For me it is a thrill to spend days in the National Archives finding some long lost detail. Is this completely disappearing? I guess not. Although watching the news and seeing the importance placed on “celebrity reporting”, real time updates, blogs (of course) and articles in the press that have been swiped from press releases with startling alacrity, one despairs somewhat.

So, I have had to evolve. It wasn’t all that long ago when I took the decision to no longer go on press trips. I had tired of producing semi advertorial shtick for glossy publications. It’s great to see your name in print, but, surely this has to be under your own conditions. I am not pointing a finger and accusing colleagues of mine, who are consummate professionals, as being sell outs, no, you pick your battles and you choose your path in this industry. I respect them for it. This wasn’t for me and thankfully I have been able to make this decision albeit an a posteriori one.

Perhaps my chosen profession does not pay so much, but, I can balance it out with household chores. I hasten to add, I’m not yet a “stay at home dad.”

I have started tuning in to internet radio and listening to talk shows, my social life revolves around a course I am enrolled in on the weekends, but, perhaps in more of a cultural expression of my heritage, in place of watching mid-afternoon cooking programs I am more likely to be found with the TV switched onto Fox Sports or ESPN for the midweek Premiership games.

However, must dash, I’ve noticed that we are precariously low on detergent and completely out of eggs.

Bogota is Becoming a City.

20 Wednesday Mar 2013

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For so long Bogota has been a city that belonged to no one. Now, I can say after seven years here that I get the distinct feeling that at long last Bogotanos are taking ownership of their city. Problems aside, (I have written frequently on the topic) Bogota may finally be acquiring a post Gaitan identity. My point is that there is a new type of citizen occupying the evolution of the city, there is a Bogotano with roots and upbringing in the city. This is a Bogotano who may possess heritage from Santander, Boyacá or Meta and beyond, but who knows less of these regions and more of the capital and identifies with her.

Bogota's Graffiti suggests a societal belonging

Bogota’s Graffiti suggests a societal belonging

Bogota has been spoken of poorly repeatedly by those arriving here, tourists, nationals and otherwise, described as la nevera and so on. Bogota is spoken of elsewhere as full of rateros, chaotic and stifled by pollution. I heard a Bogotano recently mention that the city is no longer the Atenas de Suramerica but the Tenaz Suramericana. But, times are changing.

With scores of Colombians being driven to the capital city through violence in the countryside dating back more than 60 years, drawn in by the prospect of work and the trappings that normally accompany migrations to cities, Bogota grew in the past half century as a city of convenience and necessity all the while being a curiously geographical and an infrastructural inconvenience.

In 1950 Bogota had a population of around 700,000 people, the area of Park Way had been completed only five years previously, and the city was still reeling from the Bogotazo of April 1948. But, consider the size of this capital city alongside that of other cities in the region at this time; Santiago de Chile had a population of over 2 million and Buenos Aires greater than 5 million. Bogota was essentially an oversized town. The city was an anomaly high up in the northern Andes, a capital in name only.

Templo de la Porciúncula by Cuéllar Jiménez, Gumersindo courtesy of the Banco de La Republica

Templo de la Porciúncula by Cuéllar Jiménez, Gumersindo courtesy of the Banco de La Republica

 

Photographs from 1954 show views of the Sabana de Bogota from the top of the Carrera Septima and the Avenida Chile (Calle 72) interrupted only by the imposing Templo de la Porciúncula. The city was rural.

There is now a cadre of two generations born and raised as purely from Bogota, this is their city. As they say in Spanish, the younger generations have started to apropriarse de Bogota.

Of course, Bogota has stubbed edges and possesses a shabby decadence, but, this is the beginning of the change. I believe that this evolution was set into motion years ago but came up against the inherent corruption that incapacitates any forward thinking actions here. And of course the political scenery is decidedly worrisome.

Don’t get me wrong, Mayor Gustavo Petro has not been the best option for the city, but, he is a progressive thinker who needs to apply some conservative values to appease the right and the naysayers. There are half a dozen options who would have been better candidates for the position, but, the people threw their lot in with Mr. Petro, let him see out his tenure, replacing him will just create further instability and delay further Bogota’s search for a socially inclusive and international identity.

Pqrque de los Pweiodistas courtesy of the Banco de la Republica

Pqrque de los Periodistas courtesy of the Banco de la Republica

Bogota is now a community, Bogota is gaining her identity, why would so many people from different parts of the world be making their homes here? This is a greater population than solely foreign correspondents and employees in the rank and file of the ubiquitous and necessary NGOs. People are seeing opportunity and are investing.

Now is the time for Bogota and I am glad to be a part of this renaissance.