Action – Video, Bogotá, 2020

A project with the communal engagement of the collective La Red Comunitaria, El Colectivo “el Engaño”, Daniela Maldonado and Tomas Espinosa
Thanks to: Yoko Ruiz, La Madre Martha Sánchez, La Madre Cindy Nuñez
Special thanks to: Daniela Maldonado, Katalina Angel
Camera: Olga Robayo y Juan David Cortez

Since 2013, the resistance of the transsexual community in Santa Fe against the arbitrary murder of people young transsexuals, prostitutes, artists* by night raid commandos in the streets of their neighborhood. The Red Comunitaria Trans formed as an independent organization from the community to form a network of solidarity to support the young women* in their daily lives, to inform them about risks and dangers and about their right to inform themselves.

Due to so-called “cleansing measures” by paramilitary groups, but also due to attacks by the military and police, uncounted people in the neighborhood have lost their lives since the mid-eighties and are exposed to arbitrary violence at any time. One of the first trans people in Santa Fe to speak out publicly against these systematic killings was artist Wanda Fox. She was murdered in Santa Fe in 2009 by 5 shots fired from a cab. Santa Fe is the central neighborhood of Bogotá, where attractions and hotels, nightlife and sex work are located right next to each other.

In 2019, as part of the second major procession and protest march “La Primavera Trans” in memory of those murdered, the ceramics designed together with Tomas Espinosa were placed in the neighborhood for the first time. The aim is to mark the sites of the murders and bring the memory of the victims to public attention. A second action took place on January 31, 2020, during which the ceramics were placed in the neighborhood and replaced those that had since been destroyed. Due to the difficulties of filming publicly in the neighborhood, the video consists mostly of footage filmed with a handheld camera or cell phone.

For several years, Red Comunitaria Trans has been working with international organizations as well as artists* to fight together for human dignity and the right to self-determination for transgender people. Until today, assaults by freedmen or misanthropic, transphobic perpetrators of violence are largely not prosecuted: As an offense ‘of passion’ they are classified as mitigating punishment according to the legislation in Colombia.

Text: Christiane Mennicke-Schwarz