SANTIAGO ESCOBAR-JARAMILLO
Colombia
El pez muere por la boca / The Fish Dies By Its Mouth
El pez muere por la boca / The Fish Dies By Its Mouth reflects on the resilience of people in contexts of drug trafficking and fishing. The line of the beach connects the sea or river with the continent or mainland. Amphibious communities inhabit this line with their long traditions of music, dance, hairstyles, games and celebration, and with agriculture, gastronomy, tourism, whale watching and nature. Their peace is permeated by paramilitary presence, violence and drug trafficking. Drug traffickers need access to the coast to get their product out to sea. During these trips in speedboats, they are intercepted by the Colombian Navy or naval force, and their way of escaping is to drop the cargo to make the boat lighter. Fishermen from towns such as Rincón del Mar in the Atlantic, or Bahía Solano in the Pacific occasionally find packages that can mean a year’s income or one-week rumbas. Some succumb to this pressure while others stand firm in the face of the onslaught of illegality. Such macabre characters as Pablo Escobar or “Cadena” reigned in these lands and conditioned the daily life and rules of the community. El pez muere por la boca / The Fish Dies By Its Mouth is a participatory and intervention project in which the community is an active part in the creation of the images. The contrasts between traditions (peaceful or peaceful states) and armed pressure (paramilitary and drug trafficking groups) are expressed in different actions, landscapes, bodies and objects. Everyday life intermingles with the construction of the scenes. Here, the performative act is confused with the swaying of reality, as a song of the undefined limit between sea and land, between legality and prohibition. Between 2016 and 2021, Santiago went on fishing trips with his father, brother, uncle and cousin. They all have the last name Escobar. Their link has nothing to do with Pablo, but connects them with the sea, the land and sons – Federico, Deivis, Jolly and Ñato – friends of these resilient communities.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Architect and photographer. Editor at Raya Editorial and AÑZ, Fotografía Expandida de Latinoamérica. Founder of 20Fotógrafos; Visual curator of the “Final Report” and curator of the collective exhibition “Conflict and Peace” both of the Commission for the Clarification of the Truth, Colombia. Fujifilm’s X-Photographer. First Publication Prize FUTURA Felifa 2018. Winner of Helsinki Photo Festival 2022. Voice+PhotoVogue Resident.
