Colombian Musician and Filmmaker Santiago Giraldo Navigates Human Experience from London

Santiago Giraldo Arboleda, a Colombian musician and filmmaker, crafts his creative work around themes of identity, memory, and migration. Based in London, his projects span documentary filmmaking, fiction, visual arts, and music under the Enla Arboleda project. In an interview with Colombia One, Giraldo discussed how his upbringing in Medellín shaped his artistic path and his current work exploring these universal themes.

Growing up in Medellín, Giraldo learned to play the guitar and paint at a young age and later studied traditional music at the Escuela Popular de Arte, where he encountered rhythms like bambuco and cumbia. These early experiences established a connection between sound and visual expression that later became central to his artistic practice. After completing studies in graphic design and documentary filmmaking at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Giraldo worked in academia before focusing on his own projects.

One of his most notable works is the 2020 documentary La Mirada Desnuda, which examines Medellín's violent past through the memories of filmmaker Javier Mejia. The film won Best Documentary Short Film at the Cartagena de Indias International Film Festival and allowed Giraldo to explore both his own family history and the shared experiences of a generation that lived through the city's violence.

By speaking with other Medellín filmmakers, Giraldo found a way to connect Mejia's account with the broader narrative of young people who endured the decade's turmoil.

Since moving to London five years ago, Giraldo has expanded his career to include television commercials for the UK's National Health Service and continued to develop his musical career through audiovisual projects and music releases. Throughout his diverse body of work, Giraldo maintains a focus on the interplay between personal experience and broader societal questions about identity, authenticity, and vulnerability.