A new documentary tells the story of artists who moved to D.C. after fleeing El Salvador in the 1980s and have found solace in their art forms.
(Courtesy “The Most Beautiful Deaths In The World”)
Courtesy “The Most Beautiful Deaths In The World”
(Courtesy “The Most Beautiful Deaths In The World”)
Courtesy “The Most Beautiful Deaths In The World”
(Courtesy “The Most Beautiful Deaths In The World”)
Courtesy “The Most Beautiful Deaths In The World”
(Courtesy “The Most Beautiful Deaths In The World”)
Courtesy “The Most Beautiful Deaths In The World”
(Courtesy “The Most Beautiful Deaths In The World”)
Courtesy “The Most Beautiful Deaths In The World”
(Courtesy “The Most Beautiful Deaths In The World”)
Courtesy “The Most Beautiful Deaths In The World”
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Artists who fled El Salvador for DC are focus of new documentary
When he walks down Mount Pleasant Street, in Northwest D.C., Quique Aviles is repeatedly greeted by people who know him, from his decades as a poet, performer and community activist.
Aviles was the primary writer and co-director of the documentary film, “The Most Beautiful Deaths In The World,” which will open Oct. 1, during the 36th annual AFI Latin American Film Festival, which runs from now through Oct. 9.
Born in El Salvador, Aviles fled when he was 15, “Because of the civil war that broke out in 1980 between the leftist guerrillas and the military dictators that he been in power for more than 50 years.”
Many families from El Salvador ended up in D.C., particularly in Mount Pleasant and Adams Morgan.
“The war kind of put the migration at warp speed,” said Aviles. “When your house is on fire, you run, right? So we ran. And for some reason, a lot of Salvadorans came to D.C.”
During a WTOP interview, Aviles returned to 3045 15th Street NW, near the intersection of Irving Street and 16th Street.
“This was the Latin American Youth Center. This was my after-school place. I lived down the street. And this is where I became an artist,” Aviles recalled.
The youth center was located next door to what was known as the Wilson Center, in the basement of the Central Presbyterian Church, which became a legendary D.C. punk venue through the 1980s.
“We all had something in common,” said Aviles. “This was a hub of political activism.”
The film documents how Aviles, and four other artists who relocated to D.C., tried to come to terms with what they’d lived through in El Salvador, and what they were experiencing in their new home.
“The different types of arts that are featured in the film shows you how each one of us that came from this very troubled situation found some kind of solace, no?”
Aviles said the largest Latin American immigrant group in the region is from El Salvador.
“We thought we were just passing by, fleeing the war, and when it’s over we would go back,” said Aviles, “But you fall in love, you get a good job, you buy a house, you have kids, and all of a sudden we had roots here, and we stayed.”
Today, walking through Mount Pleasant, evidence of the Trump administration’s recent federal law enforcement surge is present in flyers posted on utility boxes and sidewalks.
“It kind of has this feel, right now, that we’re living in the same situation that made us come here in the first place,” Aviles said. “For us, seeing troops, people my age, that brings back a lot of baggage, and a lot of discomfort.”
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