Making Memory on the Wall : Constructing and Contesting Collective Memory in Bogotá

Kurzfassung/Abstract

Within the context of the peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP guerrilla group, different versions of the past and present are discussed among the Colombian people. Bogotá's many street artists engage in this process by expressing their critique of the social and political situation of the country on the walls of the city. These perspectives become part of the contested construction of collective memory. In this article,
I therefore explore the ways in which memory can be constructed through and with street art. Instead of treating the image as a transmitter of a message, I want to analyse the various ways in which street art and memory can be related based on different examples from ethnographic fieldwork. I will show how we can think about the construction of collective memory on the wall by analysing street art as testimonio, as palimpsest, as lieux de mémoire, and as practice.