Santiago Escobar, Photographer
Photo by S. Escobar/2012.
UNHCR Colombia and the Colombian photographer Santiago Escobar Jaramillo, produced a photo project called Land of Light, which was realized through a series of workshops with displaced communities. He tells about meeting displaced families:
After several displacements, the last time that the family of Mr. Alirio and Ms. Rosario had to flee was six months ago, the same amount of time they have been living in an abandoned storage warehouse. When an indigenous community is forced to displace, their ties with the territory, where they have built all that has the most significance as individuals, family and community, are broken. They then face hostile environments with cultural practices very different from their own culture. The Makaguán ethnicity only exists in Arauca, and is at risk of extinction because of the armed conflict and the violence.
Photo by S. Escobar/2012.
During the last displacement, all that Mrs. Rosario could take with her was her four year old grandson and a burlap sack with clothing, which she hung from her head.
