Claudia Bernardi on Art Against Brutality: Community and Collaborative Art Projects with Survivors of Political Violence
Art Heals All Wounds
06/25/26
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Painting the Unspeakable: Art, War, and Remembering with Claudia Bernardi
I sit down with artist Claudia Bernardi to talk about her new book, Art Against Brutality: Community and Collaborative Art Projects with Survivors of Political Violence. Claudia lived through the military dictatorship in Argentina. In 1992, she was asked to work as a cartographer with the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team on the exhumation of the site of the El Mozoté massacre in El Salvador — an experience that led her to found Walls of Hope, a community mural project working alongside survivors of war, sexual violence, and displacement. We talk about memory, testimony, and what happens when survivors of unspeakable violence pick up a paintbrush for the first time. This is a conversation about murals, human rights, collective memory, and the people who refuse to let their stories disappear.
Episode Highlights (Timestamps)
- 00:54 — Introducing Claudia Bernardi and her background as an installation artist, painter, and printmaker
- 01:02 — The military dictatorship in Argentina and the 30,000 desaparecidos
- 01:25 — How the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team began searching for the disappeared
- 05:23 — What Art Against Brutality is and where the murals were created
- 06:07 — Who was Rufina Amaya Marquez, the sole survivor of the El Mozoté massacre
- 09:28 — Claudia's role as cartographer during the El Mozoté exhumation
- 11:54 — The moment the idea for working with art and children took shape at the exhumation site
- 19:11 — Founding Walls of Hope and building the "Perquin model"
- 27:34 — What it means to remember, and what survivors choose to put on the wall
- 29:38 — The women of Huehuetenango and painting a mural about surviving sexual violence
- 35:55 — Returning to Argentina to paint a mural at ESMA, the country's largest former detention and extermination center
- 44:23 — Painting murals with incarcerated, unaccompanied migrant youth in the U.S. criminal justice system
- 53:02 — A devastating conversation with one young participant about disappearance and being forgotten
- 1:02:11 — Where to find the book and learn more about Walls of Hope
Where to order the book Art Against Brutality
Learn more about Walls of Hope
Previous Episode
Holly Ringland on Overcoming Creative Fear and Finding Joy as a Writer
In this episode, I sit down with Holly Ringland — bestselling author of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding — to talk about her first work of nonfiction, The House That Joy Built. If you've ever struggled with creative block, self-doubt, or the fear that you're just not good enough to create, this conversation is for you.
Holly spent 20 years disconnected from her writing — not because the desire wasn't there, but because fear silenced her. In The House That Joy Built, she shares her deeply personal toolkit for overcoming the inner critic, reconnecting with your creative self, and finding joy in the creative process — even when life has been hard.
We talk about how grief and rage can become unexpected catalysts for creativity, why joy isn't the opposite of pain but can live alongside it, and how returning to your imagination is like coming home to yourself after a long journey.
Whether you're a writer, an artist, or anyone who has ever felt cut off from a creative outlet you once loved, Holly's story and insights will resonate deeply.
Timestamped Highlights
[00:47] — What if you could write about difficult, challenging emotions while still embracing joy? I introduce Holly and the big question at the heart of her work.
[02:35] — Holly shares the origin story of The House That Joy Built — how her publisher Catherine Milne sparked the idea over champagne by the sea, and how Holly said yes to writing it in just three months.
[09:21] — I tell Holly that The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart has the best opening hook I've ever read — and she shares the remarkable story of how that first line came to her in a moment of grief and rage.
[19:25] — Holly talks about what it means to become disconnected from your creativity, and why severing yourself from the thing you love most can be a form of self-protection — and self-harm at the same time.
[23:07] — Why The House That Joy Built isn't just for writers — it's for anyone who has ever loved a creative outlet and lost touch with it, and what it means to find your way back.
[26:46] — Holly shares a Richard Rohr quote that stopped me in my tracks: "Pain that is not transformed is transmitted" — and what that means for how we handle our own struggles creatively.
[29:54] — Holly tells the hilarious and deeply moving She-Ra story — and what a six-year-old girl with a plastic sword and a face mask taught her about facing fear and vulnerability as a creative person.
[37:17] — The difference between outer landscape and inner landscape, and why the places we love hold our memories and emotions in ways that mirror our own inner world.
[44:21] — The desert oak seed pod: Holly explains why this extraordinary tree — which needs fire to crack open its seeds before they can grow — is one of her most powerful metaphors for the creative journey.
[50:45] — What is the house that joy builds? Holly explains the beautiful metaphor at the heart of the book — and why coming home to your creativity is like finding the porch light left on for you by a former version of yourself.
[01:01:07] — Where to find Holly online, including her Substack newsletter, and how she invites readers to send her their questions about creativity and vulnerability.
Links & Resources
- The House That Joy Built by Holly Ringland
- The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding, The World Beneath Her Feet by Holly Ringland
- Holly Ringland on Substack: The Joy Rise
- Holly Ringland on Instagram: @hollygoeslightly
- Art Heals All Wounds Podcast: arthealsallwoundspodcast.com
- Art Heals All Wounds on Substack
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