The student portal of Université Grenoble Alpes

In 2021, the Journey for Life took place in Europe, an initiative of the Zapatistas that aimed to meet grassroots collectives engaged in the struggle against the ecocidal logic of the market. Hundreds of activist groups organized to welcome them and exchange ideas through activities that were both festive and political, supported by an intense effort in visual production (photographs, paintings, videos).
In Chiapas, after more than thirty years of welcoming thousands of people from Europe and elsewhere to learn from this territory rich in atypical struggles and practices of sharing, it was the turn of European activists to respond, on the political and cultural level, to the call for dialogue and shared knowledge launched by the Zapatistas.

This exhibition explores the visual culture born from the Voyage for Life , situating it within a long-term perspective that creates a dialogue between 2021 and 1492, the year of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. The voyage is considered not only as a contemporary inversion of the crossing, but also as a collective process of creating a shared experience and a political, aesthetic, and symbolic laboratory.

Through objects, images, archives, recordings, and works of art, the exhibition explores the role of visual practices in constructing shared imaginaries, the transnational circulation of struggles, and the redefinition of the relationships between art, activism, and life. Far from being mere documents, these productions are approached as active forms of thought, imbued with emotions, memories, and political projections.

The images and objects gathered in this exhibition do more than simply bear witness to an event: they fully participate in the development of new narratives of solidarity, internationalism, and the defense of life. In this sense, the Journey for Life is conceived as a visual, performative, and political event in its own right, where images do not merely illustrate struggles but rather produce, accompany, and transform them.

Exhibition organised by the research group “NOVA-IMAGO-ZAP: Political Images and New Worlds to Build: The Visual Culture of the Zapatista Journey for Life in Europe” of the University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès, Labex Structuration des Mondes Sociaux, with the support of the IUF (University Institute of France)
Featuring works by Alessandro Zagato, Amaylene, Andrea Valence , Antonio Turok, Comunidades de base Zapatista, Daniela Campos, David Dijard, Fernando S., Isaac Guzman, José Ángel Rodríguez, Lina Cabrera Cubillos, Lorena Tabares, Maelok Guevara, Omar Pinto, Robert Bonet, Tlaloc and V. Hugo.
We wish to express our immense gratitude to our partners, colleagues, and artists who contributed their invaluable support to the realization of this exhibition: Amaylene, Natalia Arcos, Batsi-lab, Nathalie Boulouch, CEDOZ, Lina Cabrera Cubillos, David Dijard, Héloïse Deyder, Franck Gaudichaud, Maelok Guevara, Isaac Guzman, Elena Mejías, Lola Sepúlveda, Fernando S, Lorena Tabares, Omar Pinto, Emmanuelle Sapet, Antonio Turok, Andrea Valence .

We would also like to extend our warmest thanks to Héloïse Faivre, Auréline Vivier-Bourdier, and all the technical and reception teams for opening the doors of the Joseph Fourier Library Museum Space at the University of Grenoble Alpes to us.
Image: Abel, Tres estrellas resiliencia, 2021.