A new collaborative mural is born at the Santa Rosa de Llafenco school inspired by species from the Andean Araucanía

In the central courtyard of the Santa Rosa de Llafenco School, around twenty boys and girls lived an artistic-aesthetic experience inspired by the interaction and observation of images and samples obtained from Bosque Pehuén, an area under FMA conservation. After living a series of activities of reflection on the meaning of nature, observation and a drawing workshop with the Danish artist Kamilla Wichmann , the students of the school participated in the collective realization of a mural with the support of our learning and conservation team and the guidance of the artist Claudia Blin.

The work was based on drawings made by the children –from third to eighth grade– when they took part in an illustration workshop in October with Wichmann, who came to the school after experiencing an immersion in nature in Bosque Pehuén. On the occasion, the artist said that “I would love for children to learn about nature through illustration and to take better care of it. These creative processes help us find meaning in the life that surrounds us and of which we are a part.”

Among the species portrayed were Darwin’s frog, the monito del monte, the güiña and various examples of flora and fungi, which will be captured in this mural that, at the same time, became a sort of closing of the process experienced this year with the teachers who promoted the initiative: the intercultural educator, William Caamaño and the natural sciences teacher, Carla Paras. Both were part of the Active Teacher program through the approach of natural medicine to reconnect with ancestral Mapuche knowledge that today lives in the culture of the territory.

Among the activities that were developed this year at the school together with FMA, there was a dialogue on biodiversity that included the participation of our conservation project manager, Sebastián Carrasco, and the mediation coordinators, Fiorella Angelini and María Jesús Olivos, together with the local kimche, Elizabeth Llanquimán. Among the objectives of these activities, the teachers sought to reconnect the students with their roots and environment, through the recognition and appreciation of nature.

In this regard, Amparo Irarrázaval, the strategic learning manager of our foundation, stated that working with the school in the context of Active Teachers allowed us to generate links and co-construct educational experiences that encouraged “children to reach valuable reflections on their interactions with the territory they inhabit, exploring meanings of nature that made sense to them, relating concepts such as life and care.” In addition, she valued the learning that occurs when experimenting with different formats when transferring a small image to a mural and related that previously, FMA had been part of collective processes for the creation of murals through works carried out together with children from Haiti in the framework of workshops to learn the Spanish language.

Angelini, who facilitated the artistic mediations with the school community, explained that the creative process that led to the creation of the mural “offered a playful experience that greatly excited the participants, who played with colors, identified their drawings and then took part in the process of painting them.”

Additionally, she said, they received a series of postcards sent by other children from Santiago, after having written, in the first instance, some messages – along with drawings of nature – that traveled to the capital as part of a “poetic activity” of mail art, carried out in conjunction with the Museo Interactivo Mirador (MIM) within the framework of Wichmann’s visit. Before returning to her country, the illustrator was also part of an exhibition called Vida, una larga historia (Life, a long story ) and the launch of her new book Tu divertido cuerpo (Your fantastic body ).

A work to accompany school careers

The creation of the mural was guided by artist Claudia Blin , who has developed a body of work that explores the intersections of art, science and nature; currently through Monte Amarillo Studio , where she develops collaborative and interdisciplinary creations. Blin –who worked on the mural with Carol Cartagena and Beatriz Arze– stated that many times in rural areas there is no access to spaces designated for art, such as museums or cultural centers as occurs in urban centers, so “it is great that the children themselves are creators of a piece that will accompany them every day that they go to school.”

Blin also expressed that, as a resident of the Araucanía region for five years, art is central to generating meeting points between diverse cultures and visions, “discovering the interests of the communities and facilitating the processes that allow them to create something new with openness to flexibility, stimulating – in the case of the Santa Rosa de Llafenco School – a significant experience for teachers and students.”

Finally, the FMA Learning team thanked the educators who were part of Docente Activo for their work and stated that they hope that in the future joint work initiatives will continue to be consolidated as part of the territorial network that has been articulated as a result of the program; based on actions that aim towards the conservation of nature in an area of great cultural and biological wealth such as the Andean Araucanía.