Alejandro Cegarra, the Venezuelan awarded two World Press Photo in six years

For professionals like Alejandro Cegarra, whose work has been constantly evolving in Venezuela and abroad, photography is life. Under that premise he has done great photographic works that have earned him international recognition and recognition from specialists in the field.

Recently, the Venezuelan was recognized with the World Press Photo for the second time in six years.

“It was a moment of relief, of knowing that so many years of effort were being recognized in one way or another by my peers, by people who are also very high-level photographers, who work for very demanding media, and it is like a validation from your peers, I think it is a very nice feeling,” comments the Venezuelan photographer to the Voice of America about the recognition he just received.

He received this award in the long-term category in the North and Central America region thanks to a photographic work on the migrant caravans in Mexico.

Specifically thanks to an image that shows a migrant on the train known as The Beast, a symbol of the risky journey that thousands of people undertake to reach the United States. Along with him, another Venezuelan woman was the winner. This is Adriana Loureiro Fernández, who won for a work on the decline of the Venezuelan oil industry.

The responsibility of portraying migrants

The project with which Alejandro Cegarra won the World Press Photo this year focuses on the externalization of the border between the United States and Mexico, and therefore portrays everything that happens in that area and the measures that both governments take to try stop the arrival of migrants.

“The project also jumps to the border to review what the United States is doing to stop migrants. That is why the project is called The Two Walls, it is not just the wall that we know in Texas, in Arizona or in Tijuana, but it is the wall that Mexico has installed, a human wall and also an administrative wall and a psychological wall to avoid that migrants continue flowing to the United States,” he details.

In addition to the challenge that a project of this nature entails, for the photographer there is another challenge: to portray and document the journey of migrants, separating his own nature as a migrant, since the Venezuelan is also one. Despite this, he recognizes that this bond makes him have more affinity with them and many open up even more when they know their story and recognize the similarities.

“I think there is an underlying understanding between immigrants, no matter where they are from (…) All migrants open up a lot, so there is a kind of complicity. And I reciprocate that by not being cruel to the camera. I don't want to be cruel with the camera, I don't want to be cruel in my photos. So it's a give and give, they give me like a door and I give them my absolute respect and I reflect that with the camera,” she says.

Almost 15 years dedicated to photography

Alejandro Cegarra became interested in photography from a very young age. He started 15 years ago as a substitute in a local newspaper and little by little he gained experience until he managed to join an international news agency, and later as a freelancer.

In 2017, after portraying the Venezuelan crisis and protests against the national government on several occasions, the professional decided to emigrate to Mexico in search of better opportunities and also the internationalization of his work.

Cegarra assures that he is part of a generation of photographers who portrayed the Venezuelan crisis and then emigrated to seek other directions. “The political crisis and everything that is happening in Venezuela has toughened us up a lot,” he mentions.

Now, he affirms that he also represents the Latin American photographer who tries to work for large media and stay current. That is why he considers recognitions like the World Press Photo a great honor, because it is a sign that it is possible and it also helps open the doors to other photographers in the region who are just starting out in the profession.

“I believe that it is a joint effort that cannot be seen, and all these efforts and all these awards are collective efforts, which are individual awards, but they are totally teamwork, they are collective efforts,” he points out.

With receptions like the one he just received, Cegarra only thinks about continuing to improve his journalistic work through photography, an art that he considers to be life.

“We are those of us who become professional in this, and using photography we want to raise awareness about problems. So, photography is life, photography is like a love letter to time, but also at the same time, it is like a commitment and it is a passion. Mainly, I see it for me as a commitment, and a commitment to living and to life,” concludes the 34-year-old photographer.

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