carrying home on our backs

a conversation on migratory grief

As part of the Trenza mediation program, the collective Lumbre Migrante invites you to a space for dialogue and reflection on migratory grief. Migratory grief is a complex process that shapes our experiences as migrants from the Global South and also informs our practices within Lumbre.

According to Joseba Achotegui, a psychiatrist specializing in migration, migratory grief is an emotional adaptation process experienced by individuals when leaving their country of origin. It is not a singular form of grief, but encompasses multiple simultaneous losses in different aspects of life, such as family, language, culture, social status, homeland, community, and physical security. Achotegui defines it as partial and recurring grief, as the loss is not necessarily definitive (in cases where returning is possible, albeit under different circumstances), but it is never fully resolved, as migration always leaves lasting marks on a person’s identity. Recognizing and naming it allows us to understand how it affects our lives and what strategies we can build to support ourselves.

In this gathering, we propose to think about migratory grief beyond the individual, psychological, and pathologizing view, instead approaching it as a central axis within the web of social and colonial oppressions that make this journey different for each body. We will work from perspectives of somatic therapy, bodywork, and artistic practice.

We are interested in discussing migratory processes, our personal griefs among and with migrants, and with those who are not migrants but are part of our emotional networks in the territory we currently inhabit.
 

The meeting is divided into two parts:

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM

The first hour of the gathering will be a shared dream experience guided by Personaje Personaje; El Soñadero. Through storytelling, somatic practices, and the relationship to materiality, the aim is to recover dreams as part of the everyday and as a connection to other presences and entities on the planet.

Activity for migrants, sex-disident migrants, and racialized migrants.

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Dialogue table between Juani Ávila Rodríguez, Julia Castillo Condori/Warmi Kusisita, Tau Luna, and Diana Rangel.

Activity open to both migrants and non-migrants.

bios

Julia Castillo Aymara woman, member of the Migrant Movement – Feminist Antiracist Community and the Feminist Antiracist and Antipatriarchal School (Valencia). She participates in and facilitates various educational, feminist, and self-organized spaces for migrant and/or racialized women against patriarchy, colonialism, racism, and capitalism.

Juani Ávila Rodríguez Member of the Somatica Visceral Collective and the Asociación Semilla Migrante. A social anthropologist by training, with several years of experience working in artistic research, art therapy, social education, and somatic perspectives on oppression, migration, and racism. Currently, she is researching topics related to trauma, addiction, and mental health.

Personaje Personaje A transvestite snake born in Quito, Ecuador, and a nationalized Spanish migrant after years of residency in the Kingdom of S-Pain. Trained as a psychotherapist in her hometown, she completed postgraduate studies in mediation and artistic research in Spain. Her artistic and discursive practice spans writing, curation, research, performance, and dramaturgy, focusing on anticolonial positioning, defending the trans-travesti* collective, with special attention to childhood.

This activity coordinated by Diana Rangel and Tau Luna Acosta is part of Trenza, which proposes to generate alliances with collectives, projects and people in the territory who have a long history of work by, with and for the southern migrant community in Barcelona. Based on the idea that art workers are political agents within the city and that in order to open La Escocesa to a specific community, it must be part of the cultural and political fabric of the city beyond the specificity of contemporary art.

The project is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

If you have any needs or questions regarding the accessibility of this activity, please, visit the page "access La Escocesa" by clicking here