Birds know no political borders. They move without passports or visas, migrating simply because it is in their nature.
Pájaros Dispersos begins from this premise, exploring how transnational migration shapes identity and our sense of belonging. Drawing on family archives, interviews, and historical research (focusing particularly on the Colombian and American context between 1960 and 1990), the project considers memory and nostalgia as forces that shape both personal and collective narratives of home and nation.
At its core is the story of two families who, for different reasons, set out on parallel journeys before their paths eventually converged. It is my family’s story, but also, with variations, one shared by countless others who have migrated in search of better opportunities, for love, or out of necessity, as well as by those who have eventually chosen to return home.
Migrant identity is shaped through memory: through the act of remembering and longing for those and that, which remain far away. Borders, by contrast, are human constructions: shifting, unstable, and often arbitrary.
Migration, in the end, is something deeply human - something birdlike.
Read the full thesis text here!
