Fernell Franco

In a country devastated by civil war, Franco settled with his family in a marginalised neighbourhood of the city when he was 8 years old, fleeing from the death threats that hung over his father's head due to of his left-wing views. Franco commenced his career as a photographer at the age of 20, starting as a fotocinero (an itinerant photographer who takes photos of passersby on the streets, in the hope they will buy their pictures from the laboratory where they are developed) before becoming a reporter for local newspapers. In the 1970s, he became a photographer for the Hernán Nichols agency. In 1972, he also worked on his first personal series, Prostituas. In the 1980s, he photographed the violence caused by the war between drug cartels.

In 2016, the Fondation Cartier organised Cali Clair-Obscur, the first European retrospective dedicated to Fernell Franco, whose works remained little known. Since his death from a heart attack in 2006, his work has featured in institutional, personal, and collective exhibitions: Les Vampires n’ont pas Peur des Miroirs, Les Rencontres d’Arles, 2023; Homenaje Nacional: Una Impecable Soledad Fotografías Fernell Franco, Museo Nacional de Colombia, Bogotà, 2011; Fernell Franco: Amarrados [Bound], Americas Society, New York, USA, 2009.