We were lucky to catch up with Angela Camila Chiquiza recently and have shared our conversation below.

Angela Camila, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

after living in the US my whole adut life, I decided to travel for an extended period of time in Latin America, by being there long term I got to experinece the everday culutre and how infused it was with ancestral knowledge, practices and rituals, I felt a connection I had not felt before and becuse of my sociology background I knew the impact it could have in the culutre of atlanta nd the diaspora in the South east. I decided to bring some of that culture and connection to the the diaspora in the U.S. I knew that as an immigrant kid that grew up in the states I was being nourish by this closeness to the ancestral legacy others would feel the same. I connected with local artisans and indegenoius women who made ancestral jewlry to bring some of that culture to Atlanta. I used my photography to bring the scenes and culture I was experiencing to print and also got involved with screensprinting. I wanted to used my artistic abilities to create a culture that represents the ancestral values of our native lands

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was born in Bogota Colombia and moved to Atlanta with my mother when I was 10 years old. I have always been passionate about culture and human relations, so I major in Sociology at GSU. My mom had business in Colombia where she would screen print sports clothes for local schools, she is an artist as well and always encourage any artistic project I got invovled in. She had an artisanal business for 16 years in Plaza Fiesta where I would help after school, that’s where my love for hands crafts was cultivated, I was anamored and in awe of the connection evoked from the handcrafts she would curate from other countries and the people who would visit her shop. I wanted to do something similar for us, the kids that grew away from the the land, but with the culture in our hearts.

with the violence epedimic in the US, I saw a cirtical need to revive and remind the diaspora of where we come from not just the place but the culture that makes our homelands great, the connection and respect our ancestors had with the land and themselves was vital for the survival, culutres that have existed for millenia and continue to exist despite the violane of colinaziation. There is a lot power in the ancestral knowledge we carry in our culture and I want to bring that back to forefront of our daily lives.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When you are a new artist there is a lot of of legalities, best practices that you don’t know, Also as an artist you put your whole heart into your projects, they become your baby, you put in time, energy and resources to make that baby grow. With that intention, my business partner and I decided investi a video and visuals for stableshing the personality of this Ancestral connecton project/ brand. We contacted and known DJ in Atlanta that had started latin pop dances and promoted and space of equity, for a remix of some songs we beleived spoke to our mission. Once we told her what we were doing, she offered her videographer services, promising heaven on earth and I naively believing everything I was being told, I offered her more than the quote she had given me for the work she promised. after several meetings and dealine discussed, and paying a deposit of $400 we moved to production ,where my business partner and I covered all the cost, but again being very new and naive to the the business side of art. We didn’t sign any contracts for the footage she was gathering. After many deadlines missed and nothing but a 30 second reel delivered way passed the deadline, I decided to confront her with contracts at hand and asking for the raw footage. Nothing was deliver, she stole all the creative work and even had the audacity to tell me that if she wanted to use patterns from the pieces I had curated and let her photographed she would and that if I wanted to she could rent us the footage for 2 years. The meeting ended with her associate screaming at us and walking away. I was heart broken. To this day I have no footage of half of the shoot we did. Being lied to and mistreated destroyed us. we were unemployed and pouring everything we had to this project. It left us stunned. We decided to re-shoot the video ourselves and called in a model that was willing to reshoot for no cost. we released the video but at that point our energy and spirits were deflated

After a few years soul searching, I deicided I wasn’t done with the mission. I still wanted to empowered the the LAtinx/ immigrant diaspora and with the current Goverment Administration it felt more needed than ever. I decided to start again with the project, from scratch, by myself, but with more strategy and all the knowledge that the experiene had left me, which is why I have invested in learning the business side of art and moving forward with not just heart but strategy too.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

As society in the U.S. we are very much use to buying from big corporations, we are taught to aim for convenience and fast= good. but that’s not necessarily true when we talked about culture, health, eduaction or even food. everything that makes culture subtancial and sustainable takes time, including art. I would encourage people to go out to their local events, with local vendors, to hold the urged to buy art from corporations and head to your local vendors market. you’ll find a world of uniqueness and connection that you don’t find in a big store. you’ll find community.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @BerraqueraOrganica

Image Credits

Photos by Angela Camila Chiquiza ( @berraqueraOrganica)