Goals for Change” exhibition in Barcelona 

The exhibition, a collaborative project created by Ofelia de Pablo, Javier Zurita and Pablo Tosco and supported by the “Art for Change” grant from the La Caixa Foundation, is opening on October 30 at La Nau Bostik in Barcelona, where you can see it until November 22. 

This exhibition presents the stories of young migrants through photographs, audiovisual pieces and texts created which they created themselves in order to show their reality from their own perspective.

“Goals for Change” is a long-running project that aims to provide audiovisual art tools to youths who have lived through migration processes, as a way to express their own challenges, achievements and fears.

This initiative, which will be traveling later throughout Spain, seeks to change the stereotypical negative narrative imposed upon migrants, providing them with a platform to tell their own stories.

On this occasion, the project will be featuring members of FC Darna, an 11-a-side soccer team made up of young unaccompanied migrants who use art to create a new visual narrative that promotes the fight against racism.

“Goals for Change” challenges conventional narratives about migrants, giving young people control over how their stories are told, thus becoming a valuable experience for self-representation.

Why is this project necessary?
Negative stereotypes about migrants lead to discrimination and have a corrosive effect on multiple aspects of their lives, which includes decreases in their self-esteem. “Goals for Change” seeks to turn this dynamic around by empowering young migrants to tell their stories from their own perspective and gain control over their own texts and images. It aspires to make them become agents of awareness and agents of change through their own narratives, in a society that is often misinformed.

Project objectives
Through the creation of photographs, videos and texts, young migrants become narrators of their own stories, thus spurring social debate guided by them in each place where the project gets presented. This will be the first stop made by “Goals for Change,” which will continue to be held throughout the year, creating narratives in different parts of Spain, while adding voices that travel to show a new map of migration created by the actual people who are really involved in that phenomenon.

“Goals for Change” is more than just an art project. It is a tool for social change. As FC Darna player Zakarias says, “Racism takes away ownership of our own lives. Many people treat us as if we were unable to speak for ourselves.”

Ofelia de Pablo and Javier Zurita are multimedia project creators who combine audiovisual tools and education to generate an impact and positive social change. Their projects have received award at the prestigious Wildscreen Festival UK (known as the Oscars of environmental cinema) and nominated for the Amnesty Media Award, as well as receiving other acknowledgments.

On this occasion, they are offering us the project “Goals for Change,” in conjunction with visual artist Pablo Tosco, an expert in training vulnerable groups and a World Press Photo winner in 2021.

The project’s origin
The seed which gave rise to “Goals for Change” was the Football for Hope project, created by Ofelia de Pablo and Javier Zurita with the support of Casa Árabe and Casa África, in which the lives of young migrants from various soccer teams are portrayed from an outside point of view. It is there where the authors met the players on the FC Darna football team, and now Goals for Change is trying to change the dynamics and allow the players, with the support of participatory audiovisual tools, to narrate their own stories by getting the chance to portray themselves in their own way.

Upcoming exhibitions and screenings
The exhibition at Nau Bostik will be the first of a series of presentations in different cities in Spain, where the public will be invited to become a part of the change. The long-running project will continue to create narratives in different parts of Spain, thus adding voices that can show a new map of migration created by the actual people who are the main role-players.