It is a pleasure to announce that we have initiated the project Political Images and New Worlds to Build: The Visual Culture of the Zapatistas’ Journey for Life in Europe (NOVA-IMAGO-ZAP), which aims to analyze the creation of images by European activists during the Journey for Life (Mexico-Europe, 2021). The project focuses on the impact of these images on the collective imaginaries and social struggles in Europe (ecology, femicide, racism). Our objective is to create an archive of these images and examine their influence on social consciousness.
In 2021, the Viaje por la Vida [Journey for Life], an initiative led by the Zapatistas, brought together European collectives fighting against ecocide, sexism, and homophobia. Around 1400 collectives organized political and festive activities through intense communication and exchange efforts. This international encounter fostered local activism from a global perspective, generating a massive production of visual materials and transnational collaborations.
The hypothesis is that, while the Zapatistas transformed the use of imagery within the global left, European collectives demonstrated great creativity in the defense of life and in the fight against racism, sexism, and homophobia. Therefore, this project focuses on the creative practices of the journey, addressing how European collectives responded through imagery, promoting democratic, horizontal, and self-managed spaces. It also examines the role of images in shaping collective consciousness around issues of gender, class, and race, as well as the transfer of iconographic motifs. A series of seminars, workshops, and conferences scheduled for 2025 will provide a public platform for disseminating the research we are undertaking. Further updates will follow!
NOVA-IMAGO-ZAP is led by Paula Barreiro López (Université Toulouse 2 Jean Jaurès) and Sonia Kerfa (Université Grenoble Alpes) and includes an international team of artists and art historians from Germany, Canada, Spain, France, Mexico, Peru, and Italy. This project is supported by the LABEX of Université Toulouse 2 Jean Jaurès and is partnered with the international research platform Decentralized Moderniti(es) and the FRAMESPA laboratory.
For a detailed description of the project, here.
