Jesús Abad Colorado, National Photography Award 2018

Jesús Abad Colorado received the Colombian Ministry of Culture's National Photography Award 2018 for his series Mata que Dios perdona (Kill, That God Forgives). The award ceremony was held during the opening of the retrospective exhibition "National Colombian Swiss Photography Award 2005-2016: A View From The Present". The award includes $40 million Colombian pesos in financial support and an exhibition of the artist's work. Mata que Dios perdona is a set of 15 photographs selected from the more than one hundred Jesús Abad Colorado has collected as he documents Colombia. The series explores the use of religious symbolism by the armed groups (legal or otherwise) operating in the country. In this way, his photographs become a document against oblivion. In Abad Colorado's own words: "Photography is a testimony of what has occurred, it provides the country with a memory that prompts reflection and helps educate so that it does not happen again. That is the importance of this Award." Abad Colorado said that the announcement of the award caught by surprise, and described himself as deeply honored. "It is a stimulus not only for me, but for other artists as well, because it tells us that our work is important in rendering many things that happen in this country visible and sensitizing people to them. At time, a bit more is needed to understand that Colombia is indigenous, peasant, human, and that photography bears witness to the life of those communities—not only of their wealth, but also of the adversities their face and the violation of their human rights." Jesús Abad Colorado is a journalist from Universidad de Antioquia, and as a documentary photographer he has captured the many faces of the armed conflict in Colombia. Between 2008 and 2013 he was a researcher with the Historical memory Group, established while the national reparations and Reconciliation Commission remained active. He has received many awards and honors for his work, and has participated in more than 40 solo and group exhibitions both in Colombia and abroad. Abad Colorado's archive, collected over the past 25 years, sheds light on the consequences of armed and political actions in Colombia, such as forced displacement of people, the suffering of entire communities and their defiant acts of resistance, and the scars left by war in natural spaces and in schools.