In the 136 pages of mythical women, the social communicator María Camila Gómez Isaza unites two universes that she met as a child in the talks of the adults of Donmatías: that of the legendary characters that populated—populate—the imagination of the peasants and that of the combatants who sowed terror and blood. the history of Antioch. In this way, the 17 chronicles of the book use the figures of La Llorona, la Madremonte, el Gritón, la Patasola and la Barbacoa to shed light on the experiences, pain and resistance of women in the face of armed conflict.
“Just as they tell us myths and legends since we were little, they should also tell us what happened in terms of conflict because that is also part of our history and memories, part of our identity,” says María Camila.
In the research phase, this book received support from the Institute of Culture and Heritage of Antioquia. With the money from the state stimulus, María Camila traveled to Granada and San Carlos: in those municipalities in eastern Antioquia she learned the stories of women who had to face death. Through their lips, María Camila learned the direct testimony of survivors and victims of forced disappearance, harassment, massacres, landmines, collective murders and kidnappings. In those encounters she also discovered that reality always has many faces. Consequently, these women also embody the concepts of resistance, resilience, organizational power, and leadership. This has been the case since Troy: women are the main victims of the tentacles of barbarism and, at the same time, they are the first leaders of times of peace. “It is precisely the women in this territory who, through hard work, have redefined discourses of participation and citizenship, interacting with institutions to position their claims in the public and political sphere,” says María Camila.
At the end of 2023, the first two hundred copies of mythical women They were published thanks to support that the project obtained from the Ministry of Culture. By virtue of a strategy focused on social networks and transmedia content, the copies have reached the hands of readers. With the money from the sale of that first print run – each unit costs forty-five thousand pesos – María Camila has published more copies, with the dream that the book will eventually share a shelf with Sow winds and you will reap storms, Crying in paradise, My escape to freedom, Warriors and Peasants, Chronicles that kill and other references of journalism that covers issues related to the recent history of Colombia.
María Camila has already thought about the next topic of her journalistic career. Now she wants to tell the stories of the women combatants, those who were on the other side, took up arms and are now at the heart of society, after accepting the Havana pacts or the demobilization processes. While this is happening, the journalist, who is the niece of Donmatías’s photographer, remains in contact with the women who opened her stories to her. At the end of the day, María Camila believes in journalism that does not limit itself to recording reality but also affects it.
The women behind the stories
These are the legends and the names of the women that are part of Mythical Women, the first book by María Camila Gómez Isaza. La Llorona: Teresita Gaviria, Martha María Ramírez, María Elvia Herrera. The motherland: Hilda Domicó, Otilia Yepes Giraldo, Alejandra Vélez. The screamer: Mariana Palomino, Diana Carolina Aristizábal, Rosalba Giraldo Giraldo. The pawsola: Martha Lucía Restrepo García, Aleida Tamayo Echeverry, Luz Elena Ríos Henao. The barbecue: Gloria Ramírez, Tere Rivera, Lleny Giraldo Gómez, Gloria García Herrera. María del Pardo: Nidia Álzate Montoya.
