Smithsonian magazine's 22nd Annual Photo Contest | Made possible through the support of MPB.com

21st Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest People
Carlos

This photograph is part of a series: "Everyday Colombia." One of the pillars through which we are currently seeking to foster nation-building is the construction of a collective memory that enables us to see ourselves as an integrated citizenship pursuing common objectives. In this regard, photography holds a privileged space as it offers us the opportunity to create a shared space with the individuals portrayed. Particularly, when the focus is on the intimacy and everyday life of these individuals, the effect of empathy and identification it elicits in the viewer becomes much more powerful. In this project, I aim to harness certain innate characteristics of the viewer, specifically their curiosity and strongly contemplative, even voyeuristic, disposition, to establish a bridge between them and the portrayed individual by exposing the private space of the latter. This gaze into private spaces is a privileged window that allows us to uncover the intimate everyday life of the portrayed individual, revealing their most personal facets. My objective is for the viewer to, upon encountering this essence, be able to establish a connection with their own memories, generating a process of identification in which they feel personally implicated and understand the profound threads that weave together the society to which we belong.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 09.2022
Date Uploaded: 09.2023
Photo Location: bogota, Colombia
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Copyright: © gustavo cabrera