By Under the heavenly mantle, our lives pass under the blue immensity with thousands of shades that look at us from above, covering endless nationalities, beliefs, religions, continents, races, nature, seas, people and animals, as well as every one of our actions. It watches us in silence, without judging, without rejecting, it does not attack, it does not impose, and it does not deprive us of anything. Heaven allows us to be who we are, it gives us something that some of us have become accustomed to, something that some other people do not know, something that others fear and what others believe they have the right to steal: we call it freedom . It is part of a whole, a unity of which perhaps we are not very aware of in our daily lives; we perceive it through our senses, through our ability to feel, to discern, to love, to conceive thoughts, in the privilege of being a person, to feel the air, to appreciate the branches of trees moving rhythmically in the wind… And despite its constant presence, we often steal the voice of this freedom.
At times, when we underestimate it and believe it will always be there, it is when its very strength reveals itself to show us that we must take care of it, protect it and make it a matter of respect by everyone, no matter what. History provides innumerable arguments that demonstrate the transgressions to freedoms and what these transgressions may arouse. Why, for example, are there situations where people take away women’s freedom? By not allowing them to be who they are, by trying to erase their smiles and courage, by destroying their self-esteem, they are disrupting the natural course of freedom in the world. By making a woman feel that she has no voice, that there is no one listening to her, and by denying her freedom, an important question arises: would the meaning of freedom change for people if we understood that it is not guaranteed?
The Scottish painter based in London, Caroline Walker, has devoted her artistic career to documenting women working in bars, hotels, kitchens, offices, nail bars, hairdressers, tailors and spaces of the same kind, expressing through her work an introspective atmosphere of realism and serenity. Following its collaboration with the charitable organization Women for Refugee Women and having had the opportunity to register women from different parts of the world seeking refuge in the UK, gave her a new perspective on the invisibility of those women around us we often overlooked. Hence her proclivity towards women working in the service industry, particularly in retail sales, hospitality and cleaning – professions often dominated by a female workforce- and her interest in how these industries make women part of the backdrop or make them completely invisible.
“I raise my voice, not that I may shout, but that those who have no voice may be heard…. Not all of us can succeed when half of us are immobilized.”
Malala Yousafzai
When we choose to work collectively and with the goal of getting through young people through creative arts such as fashion, an integral and universal tool used for raising awareness and promoting action, we succeed in influencing and empowering women and we open up the debate on attitudes and behaviors that can lead to gender-based violence.
“Today I will take you into my feelings, to the hidden side of the heart. My hungry voice is not afraid to sing forever my freedom.”
This verse outlines the collection entitled Freedom of the designer Diego Guarnizo together with the AVON foundation for women, which opened the most important fashion trade show in Colombia, Colombiamoda 2020. The stanzas of the complete poetic composition were interpreted by the actress and singer of the band Monsieur Periné, Catalina García: “I feel the need to tell who I am not to die, not to forget that life dwells within a small breath of freedom. Pain exists, but I will cure it with love.”
By being able to make three round trips to the moon and more than seventy thousand kilometers from the North Pole to the South Pole, the swallows are a symbol of freedom and the printed seal that the designer from Tolima chose for the garments that composed his collection. Through his collection, he wants to establish the importance and transcendence of preventing, stopping and to speak against every possible action of violence against women, while encouraging all women to take flight again.
What do you think?