My name is Lina Caicedo. I was born in Cali, Colombia and moved to the UK in 1990 with my parents and my sister. My parents were political activists in Colombia, campaigning for the rights of labour workers. By the mid eighties their work became increasingly difficult in what became a very violent political situation - social activists like themselves were being killed by paramilitary groups on both the far-left and far-right. At the same time the influence of the drugs trade was spreading across Colombian society. My parents had an opportunity for us to leave for Britain and they took it.

The day we left I didn’t quite know that this would be for good, that I’d be forming a whole new identity; learning English and integrating into British society and life. I don’t think I quite understood what my parents had left behind either, nor their struggles in a new country that wasn’t theirs. It’s not a topic that is often discussed because I think in many ways, the immigrant spirit is to look forwards and not backwards, to adapt, learn and survive. But I know that deep down there is a sense of loss, pain and often unresolved trauma.

Over the past few years I’ve found the process of going through my own family archive to be extremely healing. Beyond simple nostalgia it’s revealed histories to me that have given me a greater grounding in the present.

I’ve worked extensively with archive material in the UK film industry for a number of years, getting lost in the world of finding archive and seeing the life it can bring to a film. However I’ve also seen how homogenous the archive space in the UK is, both in discourse, as well as content. I now find myself interested in the ways that independent, identity-based memory organisations document, shape, and provide access to the histories of minority communities.

I hope that Latinidad LDN can can provide a space for Latinos in London to share their collective memories, not just their stories of migration but their stories of everyday life.

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