Dubious Quality

Not just painting, etc., but writing, music, or anything creative that could be considered art.

I was surprised when Eli showed me the well-supported data showing that many combatants in a civil war aren't particularly politically motivated (this is established research, not his own). When an armed force comes into your village, for example, and tells you to fight on their side, you can either do that or get shot. That's an oversimplification, but many people are subject to the tide, and go against it at their peril. 

All ex-combatants are painted with the same brush, though, and there's a tremendous amount of shame in being known as one. Most ex-combatants hide their previous life, if they can, because society treats them with an enormous amount of suspicion and distrust. Not entirely without reason.

What happened in Colombia is that a few prominent artists (Eli is becoming friends with one, although I'm not sharing his name because I'm not sure he wants me to) have worked extensively with ex-combatants to, for example, paint what their live were like during the civil war. It's a catharsis for the ex-combatants who put their emotions onto the canvas, and, as these paintings have been in exhibits all over the world, a chance for the rest of society to see them as more than one-dimensional, evil figures. 

This is what Eli wants his thesis to be about, which is why he's in Colombia doing interviews and research. How you humanize someone who is seen by society as less than human.