Art and Spirituality: Glances from Buenaventura and the National Museum of Colombia Explorers Special Edition. A Conversation with Ana Morales, Bernardo López, Juan Durán, Yeison Riascos, Francisco Romano, Natalia Angarita, Laura Marcela Agudelo, Sebastián Melo, and Andrés Epifanio García

Abstract

The historically underrepresented Pacific Colombian Coast is known for its social injustice and poverty. However, in this adverse environment, a group of artists called School and Workshop Watercolorists of San Cipriano, created in the decade of 1990s, decided to use art as the means to express both their individual and collective concerns. The artists are watercolorists, photographers, painters, and sculptors who tell their stories through their work. The pieces of four San Cipriano artists have been displayed in Buenaventura’s local venues and at the National Museum of Colombia. In addition, these artists are helping in the assemblage of the permanent museum’s hall, Strength, Faith, and Substance, which is a joint effort of the grassroots artists, anthropologists, and archaeologists, to display Colombian spirituality. The following is a transcription of an Explorers event with the watercolorists and the museum professionals involved in the hall’s display