The Silence of Alejandro

El Silencio de Alejandro is a drama that delves into the relationship between the author (Lina Ramírez) and her brother (Alejandro) who has cerebral palsy. The work narrates the process of acceptance and the development of the communication skills that both have experienced since the birth of Alejandro, when Lina was 7 years old, until today. The work explores the poetics that are established in the relationship between the caregiver and the person with a disability, from a personal point of view, the character of Elena tells us about the process that she has had to go through to learn to accept her brother without prejudice, see him beyond his disability and find other ways of perceiving the world that are out of the ordinary. This project is focused on creating awareness regarding disability and the surrounding context. According to a study conducted in 2015 by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, 143,000 people with disabilities are registered in Valle del Cauca. Despite the numerous cases registered, there are still many prejudices against this condition. There is a cultural ignorance about mental disability, we call children with Down syndrome "Mongolians", children with brain injuries "the fool". Families that have a child with a brain injury in our homes learn every day to fight against the gaze of others, not to let ourselves be defeated by comments from the street. We learn above all to accept these beings as children who bring a suitcase of learning. Over time we understand that no words are needed to communicate with them, that it is through the sound of our voice, a whistle, a caress that we transmit everything we want to say to them. El Silencio de Alejandro was born from an inquiry to understand how my brother perceives the world and a process of recognition of the different stages that I went through in the process of accepting Alejandro. The group L'Oiseau et la plume has previously investigated the staging of autobiographical themes. In 2016 he won a Grant for the creation of Stimuli Cali to mount the play María 19: memoria de una historia forgotten, which tells the story of María (Lina's mother) when she was young and received a stray bullet in a confrontation between the M- 19 and the army in Siloam. Mother and daughter share the stage for an hour, interpret their own characters and act out the text that they wrote themselves. The group has participated in events such as: "María 19 Gira a Francia" at the festival "Art at the service of Peace" (2017) in Lille and Lyon (France) organized by the Unidos foundation. The International Theater Festival of Cali (2017). The Alternative Theater Festival of Bogotá (2018). Presentation of the work María 19 in the museum La Tertulia, during the framework of the exhibition "Museo Popular de Siloé at Museo la Tertulia" in the exhibition room "Playing the museum: a museum within the museum".