In this testimony , the river , used by perpetrators to hide bodies , symbolises the social , cultural , and environmental impact of the conflict . Its transformation into a place associated with violence and loss , interrupting everyday practices like fishing and water use , also reflects the processes of displacement caused by the conflict . According to the Commission , in this volume , testimony is defined as an “ articulation of experience ”, where personal and social processes intertwine . This concept of articulation not only includes the use of words but also extends to visual and poetic languages - symbolic , textual , performative , and object-based representations - that form a tapestry of “ textures of experience ” from which to try to “ understand the social processes through which the public image of the past is constructed ” ( Jelin & Vinyes , 2021 , p . 9 ). It is important to highlight that people do not only testify with words but also through the objects involved in their narratives : “ a gun , a uniform , a bag to pack a few things , the small box they opened , the pots they looked at , the fishing net they carried , the canoe they rode , the little red backpack .”
3 . Composition : Seedbed of Territories and Social Aesthetics . Karla Moreno and Juan Diego Camargo . Jorge Tadeo Lozano University ; Bogota , Colombia . ( 2022 )
These are images that enrich and deepen the testimonies , attending to “ a piece ” of reality and “ an interest ” of the one narrating that reality . Objects , while understood as a singular voice , give us access to the historical , territorial , and differentiated reality of the conflict in Colombia , as they speak , more than about themselves , about how we can understand the social world in which they are situated . These are cultural expressions - images - in which versions of the past and events associated with places and communities are contested . It is an approach to history “ from below ”, not only because of who narrates but also how that past is narrated : a narration in the key of everyday life .
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Observing Memories Issue 8