Word Bodypainting Festival 2021

Am Donnerstag 22.07.21 habe ich zum ersten Mal am World Bodypainting Festival teilgenommen. Dieses fand Coronabedingt nochmals Online statt. Ich bin in der Kategorie  Amateure Award Sponge and Brush gestartet und durfte von 96 Teilnehmern aus der ganzen Welt den vierten Platz für die Schweiz erreichen :)

Thema: Hostorical Moments

The Discovery of America

Christopher Columbus, an Italian navigator, who sailed under the Spanish flag, discovered America. Believing he had found a new sea route to Asia, his three-ship fleet reached the islands of the Bahamas in 1492. 

After arriving in Cuba that same year, the stunning nature and people led him to pronounce this to be “the most beautiful land that eyes ever beheld.”

The European conquest led to unfair trade deals with the indigenous population and to the onset of colonization. To this day, we in Europe enjoy goods that originally came from the New World including cotton, tobacco and potatoes. 

However, history did not hold only good things in store for the indigenous people, the Native Americans. The European newcomers drove them away from their tribal land and hunting grounds. The Spanish conquerors brought war, slavery and deadly diseases to the land.

The slave trade was established in the 16th century. Black Africans were forcibly moved in European ships to the New World. The slaves were forced to work under barbaric working conditions.

On a trip to the Caribbean, I gained some insight into the suffering of the black population at that time. 

In 1886, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York in honor of American independence. It represents Libertas, the Roman liberty goddess. 

The discovery of America by the Europeans is both a blessing and a curse.