Decolonizing the arts: What I learn from the ODBK Webinar

During the 22nd and 23rd of May 2026, I had the opportunity to participate in the ODBK Decolonization Webinar, where I listened to ten speakers from different countries around the world. The diversity of perspectives, experiences, and cultural contexts made the discussions deeply enriching and thought-provoking. More than a theoretical conversation, the webinar became a space of reflection about how colonial structures continue to shape the way we understand culture, heritage, and representation today.

One of the strongest impressions I took from the webinar was the idea that heritage is not a static object that belongs only to the past. Heritage is alive. It exists in the present through people, traditions, languages, rituals, and especially within indigenous and local communities who continue to carry and preserve these histories in their everyday lives. Too often, however, institutions and governments focus on preserving heritage only through objects placed inside anthropological museums, disconnected from the communities that give them meaning.

One of the speakers that was talking about the Maya’s communities in Mexico, highlighted how cultural heritage is frequently transformed into a product for tourism or economic development, while the living communities connected to that heritage remain marginalized or unheard. Instead of investing in the protection, appreciation, and continuity of living cultures, many systems prioritize monuments, collections, and exhibitions designed to attract visitors and reinforce institutional authority.

For me, one of the most important ideas discussed during the webinar was that decolonization begins when we learn to remain still and listen. It requires creating space for minority and indigenous communities to speak for themselves, rather than having institutions, curators, or governments decide what should be displayed, preserved, or represented on their behalf. Decolonization is not simply about adding diversity into museums or cultural programs; it is about questioning who has the authority to tell stories and define cultural value in the first place.

The webinar also made me reflect on the responsibility of cultural institutions today. Museums should not only be spaces that collect and exhibit objects, but spaces of dialogue, accountability, and shared knowledge. They must move away from speaking about communities and instead work together with them as equal participants in shaping narratives and decisions.

Listening to voices from different parts of the world revealed that although histories of colonialism vary across regions, many communities continue to face similar struggles regarding representation, ownership, and cultural sovereignty. At the same time, the webinar offered hope by showing how artists, activists, scholars, and community leaders are already creating new ways of thinking and working beyond colonial structures.

The ODBK Decolonization Webinar reminded me that decolonization is an ongoing process, created by each one of us in a daily life excercise of consiousness, love, understanding, appreciation, respect, tolerance and emphaty. It is not only institutional or political, but also personal: it challenges us to rethink how we look at history, culture, and each other. Most importantly, it teaches us that living heritage cannot exist without the voices of the people who continue to embody it.