Angelica Quintero

Angélica Quintero is a Colombian poet living in the UK. While working as a consultant producer in the theatre, Angélica developed the feeling that poetry could and should be interpreted and expressed by other art forms – this is what Angélica refers to as an ensemble of poetry. In particular, Angélica saw how stories of the Colombian armed conflict, in the format of testimonies from exiles living in the UK collected through the Mujer Diaspora / Diaspora Woman network, could be transformed into poetry, and in turn, interpreted by other art expressions.

In this way, Angélica created Poetry in Ensemble project, and invited four other artists to jointly re-create her poem I survived (Me Salvé), using dance, music, painting and audio-visual arts. This multidisciplinary piece captures the story of Rosa Gómez (Rosita), a Colombian-British human rights activist, who in 2010 was heavily wounded in an attack on her while in Barranquilla (Colombia). Since then, Rosita has courageously re-emerged to continue living her life; in 2019 she gave public testimony of her story and the events surrounding the attack, to the Truth Commission in the UK, in an event organised by Diaspora Woman in London. Today, Rosita is a Labour Councillor for the ward of Churchfields.