infierno paradisiaco

In Colombia cemeteries represent the magic realism

of a ruleless country where anything - expected or unexpected - can happen. Walking through the often sunny cemeteries that I visited during a two years long journey I met, again, with all the contradictions of a nation that many people call a strange Infierno Paradisíaco (Heavenly Hell).

However, what makes this kind of journey even more fascinating is the human dimension of Colombian cemeteries. It is as if the chaos, lack of sanitation, fake flowers or bars that protect the tombstones from theft, demystify death and make it more humane. As if there were no separation between the land of the living and that of the dead or, at least, not the separation perceived in Europe and the U.S. In Colombia the two lands are ruled by absolute rulelessness.

A journey through the violence of a country where death is on the daily agenda and families are considered lucky when they have a body to cry over. Often in Colombia to have a tomb, a cross or a casket to decorate with flowers is a luxury that many people don’t have. Many victims of paramilitaries, guerrilla or the army are simply thrown into rivers or buried in mass graves. 2008 saw the beginning of the retrieving of hundreds of remains abandoned in various regions of the country.

This series was shot between 2007 and 2009.