The underlying layers of Medellin

In the summer of 2023, I spent seven weeks in Latin America, traveling from Panama towards Peru. From day one, I was particularly impressed by the very colourful, rich and symbolic visual culture I experienced everywhere but especially in Cartagena, Bogota and Medellin. This influence gave me the idea for a strange project: to shoot a roll of film twice, first just graffitis and then just street portraits. The graffiti pictures were taken in Medellin’s notorious Communa 13 neighbourhood, and the street portraits were taken in the city centre. While taking the street portraits, as it was impossible to know which portrait will be exposed on which graffiti, I had no choice but leaving myself to chance. It has been an exciting artistic experience to experiment with giving up control. The project was a radical leap of trust. Often, as much as we would like to, creation cannot be born out of our pure will, it is a game, a moment of uninhibitedness and grace.

Shot on Kodak Vision3 250d motion picture film.