In the premiere episode of Made in Latin America Season 2, Colombian writer and cultural activist Velia Vidal invites us into a deeply personal story anchored by a simple yet powerful object: a wooden stirring paddle from the Chocó region inscribed with the name “Otilio” facebook.com+7sdcelar.podbean.com+7sdcelar.podbean.com+7.

Through this small wooden paddle, Velia weaves together narratives of identity, memory, and resistance across Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities. Her voice guides us through the tensions of race, place, and colonial archives—revealing how history lingers in everyday objects .

She shares how discovering the name “Otilio” —handwritten in blue ink on the paddle—was a moment of visibility, breaking a longstanding silence in the museum’s colonial collection records facebook.com+5sdcelarbritishmuseum.org+5sdcelarbritishmuseum.org+5.

💬 Velia Vidal (b. 1982), director of the Motete cultural-educational collective and founder of the Chocó Reading and Writing Festival, is recognized by the BBC as one of the world’s 100 most inspiring women facebook.com+10en.wikipedia.org+10pt.wikipedia.org+10.

Our Role

As producers, we worked closely with the SDCELAR team to shape a smooth production process for what was, at times, a highly complex project. With multiple contributors across Latin America and two hosts based in London, we provided studio and technical support for a series of international recordings. From coordinating remote interviews to ensuring consistent audio quality across languages, our role was to create a reliable framework that allowed these powerful conversations to shine.

Why It Matters

This episode launches Season 2’s thematic arc: Volver a contar — “to tell again.” Each installment centres on contributors re-narrating Latin American histories through personal relationships with museum objects. Velia’s story is a compelling opener—an invitation to listen differently to what is already in the collection.

🔊 Listen Now

Hear “Otilio” by streaming on Apple Podcasts via the Season 2 feed. Subscribe for the full ten-part journey, entirely in Spanish, featuring voices from across Latin America.