Alejandro Cegarra

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Alejandro Cegarra (born December 7, 1989 in Caracas , Venezuela ) is a Venezuelan photographer.

Career

Alejandro Cegarra studied photography and advertising at Roberto Mata Taller de Fotografia and the Universidad Alejandro de Humboldt , both in Caracas. After a year at the Creative Army advertising agency , he started his journalistic career in 2012 as a substitute photographer for the daily newspapers Últimas Noticias , Ciudad Caracas and 2001 (Diario 2001) . In 2013 he was employed by Últimas Noticias , the largest daily newspaper in Venezuela.

Bored of the routine work of local reporting on press conferences, Cegarra began to photograph the Torre de David in Caracas and the living conditions in the tower during these years, and thus achieved first international attention.

From November 2013 to 2015 he worked as a freelance correspondent for the Associated Press in Caracas and then moved to Getty Images Reportage as a “Featured Photographer” .

In 2014 he was invited to exhibit at the PHotoEspaña Festival, and in the same year the Magnum photo agency selected him for their 30 Under 30 competition, in which Alejandro Cegarra won the audience award. Also in 2014, his photo series about the Torre de David was honored with 3rd place in the category "Contemporary Themes" of the Sony World Photography Awards, and he received the Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award and an Ian Parry grant.  

After further prizes and exhibitions in 2015, he received the Magnum Foundation's Emergency Fund Grant in 2016 for his documentary Our Invisible War about everyday violence on the streets of Venezuela. In 2017 he won the Getty Images Grant for Editorial Photography for his series Life with Hugo Chavez 'Legacy .

Alejandro Cegarra's photos appear in the Washington Post , Paris Match , the Stern , the Sunday Times Magazine , the New York Times , TIME , online channels such as Veja and Univisión and other international media.

Documentation of life in the Torre de David

When Venezuela was hit by a severe economic crisis in 1994, construction work on the Torre de David skyscraper , planned as the headquarters of a large bank with offices and a hotel in the center of the capital Caracas, was stopped. The unfinished building, consisting of two towers in the shell state, with 45 floors a total of 195 meters high, was occupied by people looking for accommodation from 2007 and has since been considered the city's vertical slum. The approx. 5000 residents, including about 2000 families, formed a self-governing, structured community with its own law enforcement officers and service providers. Alejandro Cegarra's photographs show the inner workings of the illegally inhabited ruins. It became a symbol of the economic decline of the Venezuelan capital, which is considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world, and of the longing of its residents for a safe home.

The effect of Alejandro Cegarra's images on the public and local politicians in Caracas promoted the organized relocation of families from the Torre de David to social housing outside the city. This resettlement, which began in June 2014, was also documented by Alejandro Cegarra.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alejandro Cegarra. In: Annaberg Space For Photography. Retrieved October 22, 2017 (English).
  2. ↑ Lena Grundhuber: Alejandro Cegarra on his photo project "Torre de David" . Ed .: Südwest Presse. Ulm December 30, 2015.
  3. ↑ Kristin Haug: In the Tower of Evil. New building ruin Torre de David. In: Spiegel Online. January 23, 2015, accessed October 22, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Alejandro Cegarra . In: World Press Photo . ( worldpressphoto.org [accessed October 22, 2017]).
  5. ^ Photojournalism: The camera as a witness . In: The time . September 8, 2017, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed October 22, 2017]).
  6. ↑ Alejandro Cegarra: The other side of the Torre de David . Ed .: Stadthaus Ulm. Ulm 2015, ISBN 978-3-934727-40-3 .
  7. ^ Ulm town hall. Retrieved October 22, 2017 (de-en).
personal data
SURNAME Cegarra, Alejandro
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Venezuelan photographer
DATE OF BIRTH December 7, 1989
PLACE OF BIRTH Caracas , Venezuela