The photographer Fabiola Ferrero portrays the Venezuela of today and yesterday with images

First modification: 11/15/2022 – 21:27

Fabiola Ferrero gave us an appointment within her exhibition in Paris. The Venezuelan photographer exhibits in the French capital a set of images that make up the series ‘Venezuela, The Wells Run Dry’, work that began as an attempt to capture the disappearance of the Venezuelan middle class due to the deep crisis that the country is experiencing.

But in the course of this photo-report, Ferrero’s objective migrated towards a more ambitious goal: to contribute to the memory of a country that has been lost, a once prosperous oil nation, whose wealth only subsists in memory.

The consequences of this mess are visible in all corners of the country: dismantled infrastructures, institutions unable to function properly, inhabitants suffering from all kinds of deficiencies, among many daily tragedies that have prompted seven million Venezuelans to flee to other countries.

Ferrero led a team of five photographers who visited various areas of Venezuela to photograph the installations of the oil and salt industry, pillaged or abandoned universities, as well as the vestiges left behind by Venezuelans who have fled the crisis. These images are presented together with the photographic archives and personal videos of many Venezuelans who participated with their stories in this work.

The exhibition that is presented in the Comedor del Convento de los Cordeleros, in the heart of Paris, has two possible entries: from the past, a segment that brings together images from the 1970s and 1980s, or the present, made up of photos taken by Ferrero and his team in 2022 from an opulent country that has been disappearing. This series was awarded the Carmignac Prize for photojournalism.