UNESCO Chair on Refugee Integration through Education, Language and Arts

This episode was recorded at the online UNESCO RIELA Spring School: The Arts of Integrating 2025. The episode is in English and Spanish, with the Spanish sections being repeated in English by our amazing on the fly translator Esa Aldegheri.

The We Care project delves into the intimate world of elderly care in Colombia, revealing how these tender moments become powerful rituals that weave collective memory and nurture peace within communities.

In Colombian families, caring for elders creates profound bonds that naturally transmit values and traditions across generations. This project illuminates how seemingly simple daily acts — like assisting with bathing or sharing a meal — transform into moments of deep reflection and connection. These caring rituals don't just meet physical needs; they create a tapestry of shared history that strengthens family ties and cultivates the empathy essential for lasting peace.

Through this lens, caregiving emerges as both deeply personal and profoundly political — an essential act for building a more compassionate society. By documenting these intimate moments, We Care contributes to Colombia's ongoing peace process, demonstrating how the transmission of memory through care serves as a vital safeguard against repeating the violent patterns of the past.

The project asks us to consider: in these moments of vulnerability and tenderness, who is truly caring for whom?

The presentation was by Diana Agámez, Luisa Machacón and Isabella Corvino. Please scroll down for their biographies and for some of the photos from the project.

This episode was edited by Catherine McGrath.

 
Download the E87 transcript (in English only).
 
Biographies of the speakers:
 
Diana Agámez is a Colombian-Venezuelan writer and poet with a degree in Linguistics and Literature and a PhD candidacy in Education at Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) in Madrid. Based in Rome, she is the author of "Mi cuerpo: un lugar feliz," which won the "Lingua Madre" prize in Italy in 2022. Her work "Mi Madre encendió un volcán ella sola" was also recognised with the "Vicente Núñez" poetry prize in Spain in 2024. A teacher and translator, she explores the narrative of the female body in old age through her photographic and poetic project, "We Care”.
 
Luisa Machacón is a writer and photographer based in Amsterdam, with an MA in Latin American Studies. Her work explores themes of peacebuilding, memory, nature, and femininity. She is the author of the poetry collection No guardamos las semillas (We Didn't Keep the Seeds) and has developed interdisciplinary projects such as: Before the Farewell to Arms – a photography exhibition documenting the daily lives of former FARC-EP combatants in a Colombian transition zone and We Care – a project blending photography and poetry to reflect on rituals of care and the transmission of memory and oral traditions across generations.
 
Isabella Corvino teaches Sociology at the University of Perugia, Italy. She received her PhD from the University of Bologna, after starting her career as a researcher of international cooperation and development studies in the field. Over the past 10 years, she has carried out research on recognition, otherness, belonging and gender, specifically from a sociological perspective.
 
Please see below some of Luisa Machacón's stunning photos:
 
 
 
 
The picture above was selected as a finalist for the Premio Roma Fotografia 2025 in the category "RELAZIONI." It was exhibited at the Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia, in the Sala dello Zodiaco, from 8 to 30 November 2025. Additionally, from 11 to 30 November, the work was featured in the third edition of Roma Fotografia Future, with selected works projected across five LED video displays as part of the "Museum Circuit," spanning:

- Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia
- Castel Sant'Angelo
- MAXXI – National Museum of 21st Century Arts
- Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica – Palazzo Barberini
- Palazzo Merulana 
 

First published: 8 April 2026

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