Luigi Baquero

Me hice una pregunta cuando hacía cada plano de la serie documental TENEMOS NUEVOS VECINOS (2003), ¿cómo mostrar la dignidad en esa precariedad que me atropellaba? Cada encuadre, cada plano de la serie me sorprendía y me sorprende aún cuando llego a los asentamientos y veo rostros que me sonríen y me acogen en sus casas.

Con este trabajo pretendo hacer visible que los espacios tienen vida cuando son habitados, usados y luchados; cada objeto tiene importancia para el dueño de su espacio, tiene unas memorias, ellos amablemente abrieron sus casas a este registro visual. Yo me dediqué a pensar cómo generar en el espectador curiosidad por saber quiénes son los dueños de estos espacios.

El dilema de cómo mostrar la dignidad en la adversidad sigue presente, todos los días después de acercarme a estas personas pienso en las maneras de cómo comunicarle al observador, cómo hacer un llamado a los ciudadanos a mirar la realidad de una manera delicada, sin dar la espalda, sino por el contrario comprometerse en la búsqueda de soluciones a los problemas de nuestro país.

Luigi Baquero, “ESPACIOS CON-SENTIDOS  SPACES WITH-SENSES”, 2007, LightJet prints

While I was composing a shot for the documentary series WE HAVE NEW NEIGHBOURS, I asked myself the question of how I could show human dignity while I was surrounded by world of basic primary needs.

Each frame of the series surprised me and it still surprises me when I arrive at their temporary “favelas” and find myself greeted by smiling faces that open their homes to me.

With this body of work I intend to show that empty spaces acquire life, a sense, when they are fought for, used and inhabited by human beings. Each object has a special importance for the owner of the space. It carries memories. These people simply opened themselves and their homes so I could capture the sense of the space.

I tried to generate curiosity on the spectator as to who the inhabitants of these spaces are.

How to depict their dignity is a task that still haunts me. I am constantly wandering how to communicate this to the viewers of the photographs.

How I could make all viewers take a new angle, with a softer, more insightful way of looking, without turning their backs on the situation, but rather making them more aware and involved in searching for solutions to all the problems that Colombia has to face today.

It is estimated that Colombia has approximately three million people that have been displaced from their land due to the violence of the internal conflict. Most of them find a temporary life on the outskirts of the larger cities, but some of them live precariously on the side of the highway.  My video, Invisible Multitude, documents this terrible problem.