‘El Callao: Wounds and Repair’ are multi-screen animations/installations informed by Venezuelan cultural heritage and ancestral beliefs from diverse communities, which uncover the postcolonial past of El Callao. Calypso of El Callao is a music genre associated with Caribbean emancipation celebrations, with which Venezuelan minorities maintain their cultural identity. The Venezuelan ethnic artists dive into the rarely-known history with immersive animation and rhythms performed by traditional instruments, following the colonial wounds in the folklore narrative.

Informed by the conversation of our pioneer Francisco de Miranda with Goethe, ‘A country starts out from a name and a flag, and it then becomes them, just as a man fulfills his destiny’, Patricia Lolu weaves a web of echoes with hand-crafted animation that links the distorted past to this significant moment. With unwavering faith, Baldo Verdú leads us into the sensory journey with his soulful and powerful Afro-Venezuelan percussion.

In 2024, Venezuelan protests followed the presidential election on July 28, responding to voter fraud during the election cycle as part of the Venezuelan political crisis. On the same day, the installation ‘El Callao: Wounds and Repair’ was exhibited in London. It showcased the Calypso music, the Carnival of El Callao and the Canton Opera. It was played on the largest immersive screen in Outernet London. The audience walked into the cultural world of Venezuela’s post-colonial history and witnessed the pain of the Caribbean’s decolonial revolution and the slave history of ethnic minorities (African, Indian and Cantonese in China). Patricia stated this little-known history in the animation, the sacrifices and ignored sufferings of Asians and Africans in the Latin American revolution. Together with Afro-Latino musician Baldo Verdú, he manifested the roar and battle of his ancestors in the 18th century with the Afro drum Bumbac. Venezuelan artists collaborated to transform London’s most central square into a traditional ritual and social movement using animation and music.