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“I fled with my parents from Chile to Argentina in 1978, and in 1979 my family was invited to the Netherlands as political refugees. As an organiser and programme maker, I have worked on numerous poetry events and projects within the themes of art and culture, cultural diversity and participation.
For example, I was responsible for the literary programmes at the Poetry Park Festival, later Dunya Festival in Rotterdam and at the Zuidplein metro station in Rotterdam my mural ‘The whole world is your homeland’ can be seen. I painted this together with Jorge Kata Nuñez. I run the neighbourhood initiative and children’s studio De Kleine Vis in Rotterdam and have been committed to the Chilean community in the Netherlands for years within themes of art and culture, cultural diversity and participation. As a field worker, I have been involved in the oral history project ‘Unknown Special‘ where a total of 248 refugees told their life stories. In 2020, I was appointed a Member of the Order of Orange-Nassau in recognition of my continuous commitment to newcomers, refugees and people from cultural minorities.”
“On the human level, I carry with me extensive experience as a (political) refugee and am today actively involved in solidarity actions on behalf of refugees. At the level of being active in society, I possess the ability to communicate, both in Spanish and Dutch, and therefore participate in defending people’s dignity. Moreover, I possess the ability to organise and mobilise people for greater humanity. As a visual artist, writer and poet, my work conveys the need to humanise this world and make it better.”
For me, oral history is an essential tool to retrieve and integrate the life experiences of many people, which are often overlooked in official historiography
“In 2012, I initiated a working group to prepare activities to commemorate in 2013 40 years of military coup in Chile and solidarity in the Netherlands. We organised exhibitions, public programmes, the publication of a book of interviews and gave former Chilean refugees the opportunity to tell their experiences orally to the public.
From 2014, I was involved in the Ongekend Bijzonder project and this was an introduction to the world of oral history for me, learning techniques and applying what I learned in practice.
For me, oral history is an essential tool to retrieve and integrate the life experiences of many people, which are often overlooked in official historiography. The discrimination of information, the selection of information and ultimately the formation of what we consider the ‘foundation of official historiography’, has always tended to leave out the experiences that have been preserved thanks to oral history.”
Please note that oral history has always tended to leave out the experiences that have been preserved thanks to oral history.
“To give people full space to share their life experiences, it is important to understand how official historiography is created and how it selectively omits information or chooses to go in a certain direction. The end result is often a history that excludes many people and various truths. Therefore, it is very important to delve into both the history and the person you are going to interview.”
“For the month of September, we have been working on the theme Chile 50 years, commemorating the 1973 military coup and the death of Salvador Allende. Oral history helped us gather people’s experiences and we were able to deepen and illustrate the stories of what happened then in creative ways.”
FOLLOW JUAN HEINSOHN ON LINKEDIN
Photo: Mladen Pikulic
