The impulse for My Uncle is Not Pablo Escobar’s outreach is initiated from our drive to generate visibility and amplify the Latinx voice in the UK. Stemming from conversations and the shared experiences of the consumption of Latinx culture in the UK through dance, food and music yet as a community we do not feel recognized. We plan to challenge this through intersectional outreach; from conservations with UK higher education institutions, arts organisations and community work. We aim to amplify our identity and reframe our presence through our own voices.
Our team of creatives and artists offer workshops relating to the show and the themes it carries. These range from community based work to theatre workshops for professionals. Please contact us for more information and to book a workshop.
More than other
We wanted to work on changing our representation, but we realised we can’t do it unless we are recognised as an ethnicity on the census and vital forms that will set the example to the rest of the institutions, encouraging them to do the same. We started by having casual conversations with King’s College London to then be having meetings in which they agreed to change the way they collected data about Latinx students and workers by the following September. We did talk about what it meant to us to be Latinas in London in a short documentary ‘More than Other’ and during the summer of 2019 we met with the CEO of Lambeth Andrew Travers that promised to add an additional box including our ethnicity on their forms. I hope to see more opportunities and a better representation of my community in a couple of years.
Meeting with “Stubborn Activist” Yara Rodrigues
Yara Rodrigues author of stubborn Archivist gave a talk to LatinXcluded about her exploration of cultural identity through different voices indicating the nature of her story, based in South London highlighting what it means to her to be British and Brazilian exploring beyond a person’s identity from what the word arctivist means to us, to writing a story told from the memories of someone very close to us.
The group learned the meaning behind the blank pages representing the violence experienced by the characters, a pause in the story connecting us to the past. Yara shared her WhatsApp messages to her mother and a picture of Alfredo a muralist who artistically seeks for justice and change through graffiti. In a country of dictatorship fighting for clean water, free press and democracy, Alfredo rebelled against injustice by painting political slogans and poetry at night ‘Coragem Alfredo’. Becoming almost like a meme today, giving hope to those who
are still fighting and courage to continue in a place where art became the new voice of resistance. We are pleased and thankful for the crucial advice from Yara when writing about a personal experience or a story. The evening ended beautifully with what we would archive, a part of what makes us who we are.
The group also reflected on the bilingual mixture of poetry and language, embracing being of a mixed culture in London. The group reflected on how food and music are the first things they think of regarding their identity; it is relatable, familiar and close to people to those who live in south London, families that maintain their culture alive wherever they go.
The casting database -
Ruth O’Dowd
Ruth O’Dowd is a renowned casting director who created the first casting list of UK born Latinx women actors, using social media and her networks at NYT to create this list. This came directly from a request from Valentina and Elizabeth of MUINPE and LatinXcluded to notice and allow space for the very specific experience of this dual identity.
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Co-Creation workshop with
Valentina Andrade & Tom Ross-Williams
In early 2021, Tom and Valentina, two of the four co-cteators of MUINPE hosted a co-creation workshop in which they discussed the process of creating MUINPE and best practices, using structure of allyship and previous experiences they discussed modes of learning and challenges that arose from the process. This was followed by sharing how their practices had developed and been adapted through co-creation.
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To listen to their workshop, please follow the link
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To access the presentation, please click here
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Creative writing and performing workshop with
Cecilia Alfonso-Eaton & Anna Alvarez
In the summer of 2021, Anna and Cecilia hosted a workshop in which they discussed the plethora of Latinx identities and how our identities are played out in the public realm and on stage.
Using a structure of free writing, exchange and movement based tasks they discussed the importance of representation, being seen and bilingual theatre as a new project in the UK.
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To view the workshop pdf, please click here:
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The creators of MUINPE are excited to be teaming up with LatinX Actors UK and LAIPA to create the UK's first directory of Latin American creatives working in the UK.
We will be launching the directory later this autumn and look forward to sharing the website and more news shortly!
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