Routes & Roots | Transit

About the Participants

• Mariana Osorio Gumá Writer and Psychoanalyst

  Among her most notable works are the novels El Paraíso de las moscas (2010), Tal vez vuelvan los pájaros (2014), which received the Premio Lipp Brasserie in 2013, and Escucha las sombras bajo el palmar (2015). Her work moves between the mysterious and the fantastical while also exploring the challenges faced by children growing up in vulnerable circumstances. Her short story collection Las siete vidas de un gato (2019) was selected by the Banco del Libro de Venezuela as one of the best original works of 2023.
  
  She is co-founder and coordinator of Bibliotecando con Lucha Libris, a mobile, self-managed library run by an interdisciplinary collective that uses literature and art to engage with local communities. Since 2017, the project has been active in rural and marginalized communities in the state of Morelos, as well as with migrant communities in Mexico City.

• Robert Machiri Artist

  Artist and musician based in Berlin. His interdisciplinary practice spans sound, drawing, photography, moving image, installation, and social intervention. Starting from questions of how we listen and perceive, he explores the relationships between space, history, and power. Shaped by his experiences of living in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Germany, his work engages with migration as well as colonial and postcolonial continuities. He approaches sound as a means of making social relationships visible, fostering collective processes, and imagining new ways of living together. His work has been presented internationally, including at the Venice Biennale and the Makassar Biennale.
  
  Artist website

• Gabriel Wer Human Rights Activist

  Guatemalan human rights activist and civil society organizer based in Mexico City, where he has lived in exile since 2022. He studied business administration and holds a master’s degree in Latin American literature. In 2015, he co-founded JusticiaYa, a movement for justice and democracy in Guatemala, as well as Instituto 25A. He is also the founder and executive director of Casa Centroamérica, an organization created by and for Central American communities living in exile and in the diaspora in Mexico.
  
  His work brings together human rights, memory, culture, and collective action to strengthen communities and create spaces where people in the diaspora can share their stories, build new forms of belonging, and remain connected to their countries of origin.