Harmony, freedom, happiness, and tranquility are all ideals of world peace. And although ambitious past and present world leaders strive to achieve it, the so called “utopian” belief is the underlying strength amongst many.

Many interpretations of world peace exist. Some feel it is a resolution of global and regional conflicts through nonviolent means. Others argue it’s about the absence of conflict all together, to the point where institutions are not necessary.

But to artist Tiité Baquero, world peace goes beyond a resolution and beyond not having institutions; world peace is about a change with a useful purpose.

“I have always embraced the idea that art has a utilitarian role,” Tiité says. “Anyone can purchase a piece of art for their living room, above their couch. That gives it a utility, doesn’t it? But none of that was going into drawing the efforts of a dying world in the 21st century and that’s what I wanted to do with art. I wanted to take art to where it could have a new element of utility about itself that will be reminiscent of how art used to work before it was art.”

He goes into an explanation about the Native American drawings on the walls of their caves. To that civilization, the marks on the walls were more than just a bison or an arrow. To them, those marks were the bearers of their history; a creative response to the critical survival issues of their world.

To Tiité, his artwork is about a task he brought upon himself to make art relevant to the culture it’s in.

A native of Bogota, Colombia the artist admits that he does not remember getting into art.

“I’ve always been me and I’m an artist, so I never really thought about becoming an artist,” he says. “My mother tells stories that I would build sculptures with my rice and meat. And when she’d ask when I was going to eat, I would say, ‘I can’t its too pretty.’ I never had to be talked into art.”

Throughout his formative years, Tiité attended school, but says he was more comfortable teaching himself natural philosophy, art history, drawing and painting. He remembers going to the university anticipating to use the fabrication shop and the dean told him to follow his own path because he was “a natural and the system would destroy [him].”

“I didn’t know how to take that because I really wanted to be in the shop building things,” he says. “But that man did more for me than I was able to realize. Today, I am sure that if I had been touched by the academy, I would be just another artist.”

Living in New York in the late 1960s, Tiité continued his education in art, philosophy, and engineering design in order to create. Throughout his time in the big apple, the artist designed an experimental program that needed virgin territory to be implemented.

“I knew that in New York, I could not do my thesis because it is hard to grow a new flower in a place where there were millions of them,” he explains. “I was looking for a place where there was no art and I found it here. And that was the beginning of my thesis.”

Today, Tiité’s lifetime work can be described as a revolutionizing concept of art. As an artist, he is hoping that the very being of our species moves us to take action in a more meaningful way. Something he learned from what pressed this artist to take on such a daunting task.

“In 1957, my country was in great turmoil,” the artist sadly recounts. “A dictator had been deposed and cold murders and killings were everywhere. I had a chance to see what they call collateral damage, casualties of pregnant women, children, so sad. And I said to myself, ‘This is no way to live. How could anyone say that they are

“The marker speaks for itself,” the artist says. “The idea is a beautiful work of art that goes into the ground and serves as a nucleus, or a center of expansion to where peace is physical. At a very fundamental level, this says that it’s a model of world peace because it gives the world an aesthetic idea, with a physical presence, of what is the smallest amount of world peace we can have to create somewhat of a culture of world peace.”

What will world peace look like? That is not known at this time. In fact, it has never been known; but with the WPMP Tiité seeks to leave behind footprints, which have a history about the way in which the model of world peace is evolving.

To him it’s simple, with the project “together we will show peace comes in a lot of flavors, evidence that civilization can embrace new ideas and cultures with art.”

“With the World Peace Marker Project, I have joined other artists to demonstrate that our species can work together to address the sustainability of a civilization,” he adds. “It’s about demonstrating that role of utility, that re-connection to a point in time in which art wasn’t even art, but it had a role to play because it was crucial to the identity or culture of those people. We need to do that before going to preserve the world because you don’t preserve things you don’t care about, and you can’t care unless you’ve been made part of it.”

Thus far, the project has reached seven nations— the United States, Bosnia, Germany, Canada, Japan, Turkey, and Lebanon. Currently, the next five nation’s markers are under construction.

The strength in numbers is apparent in the fiber of this project. Together with the ambassadors, the artist is seeking to know and practice the ways of peace by bringing to light concepts and ideals never expressed before. And to kick-off its second phase, Tiité will be hosting a traveling exhibit called “We Changed Art Forever.”

“The show is about sharing a piece of history with those around me,” he says. “It’s about showing them what a peaceful future can be through a completely new experience. It’s about bringing art and life together before your eyes and experiencing a reality you cannot avoid.

“I have and will always continue to try to embrace an idea that supports the thoughts that an artist is a creative spirit that sees in the world the ways to make life bearable,” says Tiité. “And if all it takes is a beautiful piece of identity, then I will make that piece to where when the recipient gets it, it gets a “me”; a “me” that translates into hundreds, thousands, and maybe millions of identities that will change art forever.”

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