The Juan Antonio Serrano Photojournalism Prize for Peace was created two years ago in Ecuador to promote a culture free of violence, to awaken social peace and to demand the right for free expression. It also serves as a tribute to Juan Antonio Serrano, a young Ecuadorian photographer murdered in his home in 2012, possibly for political reasons. In addition, the prize supports the work of Ecuadorian photojournalists faced with precarious working conditions. The photography collective Paradocs and Serrano’s worked together to make this project a reality.
Ecuadorian photographers and residents are invited every year to submit their work in one of two categories: professionals and students. A grant is awarded to the winners to allow them to complete a photography project, as well as $5,000 towards exhibiting and publishing their work.
This year, for the third edition, the international jury included: Claudi Carreras, a Spanish curator and publisher in Latin America; and Stephen Ferry, an American photographer, professor at the International Center of Photography in New York, and author of the book Violentology. This year, for the first time, the public was invited to participate in the awards.
Additional activities like conferences, workshops for young photographers, exhibitions and debates were organized in the cities of Quito, Cuenca and Guayaquil.
The closing ceremonies were held on April 22nd at the Contemporary Art Center in Quito, a former hospital transformed into a cultural center. From the 37 projects, the jury unanimously selected Santiago Arcos’s the project La Orilla de un desalojo (The Shore of Eviction). “The project has great potential, creating an atmosphere and depicting a subject that must be done responsibly.”
Arcos’s work tells the tragic story of the evictions of 157 families organized into five cooperatives (including 40 families already evicted) who were occupying abandoned land for nearly 20 years on an island called Trinitaria, connected by a bridge to the city of Guayaquil. The city council wanted to reclaim the island to be used as a sports complex. The first part of Arcos’s project concerns the eviction that took place on March 27th, 2015. Houses were destroyed and families were left out in the rain with no plans to relocate them, a clear violation of the human rights included in the Ecuadorian constitution. The media has since started to pay attention, and a public debate has begun in search of solutions to help the evicted families.
In the student category, Carmen Santillàn’s series Soy Homosexual (I Am A Homosexual) was given first prize for its concept and originality. Carmen is openly gay, and her series features stories of discrimination which accompany the full-length portraits of her subjects.
Here’s hoping for a bright future for the prize, which is both a means to support photography and to keep alive a country’s memory.
