A visual essay by Maria Elisa Gómez
Going Nowhere
Kakuma, Kenia
A vision by Maria Elisa Gómez
We flew from Nairobi in a UN plane, the only kind that flies into Kakuma town. When you start seeing little white dots crop up in the vastness of this barren land, it dawns on you how big this camp is. It’s like a whole city made up of white tents and zinc roofs. Kakuma is not a country. It is many. A refugee camp called Nowhere, some sort of non-nation, a melting pot of people looking and waiting for home. It's there I found a group of young people that no longer feels the country borders we carry inside ourselves. People make do with what they can get. Resilience against hardships, creativity against poverty, warmth against sadness. A refugee who makes art is not a refugee, he or she is an artist.
Creative Action for Social Change is an initiative bringing together creatives with projects with a social impact. For World Refugee Day, they gathered some of Barcelona’s finest artists for a special fundraising event, during which you can donate to future projects. The artwork will be be part of a raffle taking place on 20 June at Sala Apolo, Barcelona. To donate you can buy a ticket online or at the event.
Artwork. The CA|SC Zine Project:
a workshop for children and teens in which they create a DIY zine about their lives and their communities.
Photography and words. Maria Elissa Gómez
Editing. Valerie Steenhaut
Traveller/s
Maria Elisa Gómez
Artist
Maria Elisa Gomez is the brains and the intention behind CA|SC. Born in Colombia but living in Europe for over 15 years, she is a multidisciplinary creative who has been shifting her focus towards projects with a social impact in the past few years and has found in CA|SC a way to use her experience and that of others to bring them to life.
