Fabiola Ferrero

Fishermen work next to a sunken ship in the coasts of Sucre, Northeast of Venezuela, on November 11, 2021. Fabiola Ferrero for Fondation Carmignac

October’s featured photographer is Fabiola Ferrero

Fabiola Ferrero is a journalist and photographer born in Caracas in 1991 and currently based in Colombia. Her personal work is the result of how her childhood memories contrast with nowadays Venezuela, her home country. Using her background in writing and investigative journalism, which she studied in Caracas (UCAB), she develops long term visual projects about South America, and especially Venezuela’s crisis. Her educational background in photography includes the Joop Swart Masterclass 2019 and the Eddie Adams Workshop.

She was a jury member for the World Press Photo 2022 contest South American region and Magnum Foundation Fellow for the Social Justice Program in 2018. Interested in bringing opportunities to other newcomer photographers in the region, Fabiola founded Semillero Migrante, a photography mentorship program around migration. Among her recognitions are the Inge Morath Award, 6Mois Photojournalism Award and the Getty Images Editorial Grant. She was also a finalist for the Alexia Grant, Eugene Smith Memorial Fund and the Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award. As well as developing independent investigations in South America, her work has been featured in TIME, The New York Times, National Geographic, M Magazine, Le Monde, and others. She is the 12th Carmignac Photojournalism Award laureate.

Venezuela, The Wells Run Dry

“Over 6 million Venezuelans have left my country. My parents. My brothers. My closest friends. Myself. One by one, we all left. I saw my country become a different one, and my memories blur, as if looking at my childhood through a foggy window.

So, I went back in 2022, two years after migrating, and when I found myself in the middle of the decay, I sought refuge in memories–of others and my own. This is my attempt to look for the remains of the prosperous oil nation I grew up in. To dig into the memories of a time that existed before collapse.

A decade ago, right before Hugo Chávez’s death, Venezuela was still in a window of opportunity, with the majority of its population being working age, the oil barrel costing over 100$ and foreign investment flooding. Two years later, oil prices dropped, political violence took over and waves of young migrants, mostly between 15 and 34, started to cross borders to other countries. A collective escape that hasn’t yet ended.

Venezuela’s population decreased by almost a fifth since 2014, according to the UNHCR. Migrants set out to Colombia, Perú, the United States, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Argentina, Ecuador, and the rest of the world. I personally landed in the dense city of Bogotá, a place that over 500,000 Venezuelans call home.

Venezuela also grew older and poorer. Seven consecutive years of economic collapse and political crisis left a devastation only comparable to countries that went through an armed conflict: 94% of the Venezuelan population now live below the poverty line, almost destroying the middle class and increasing the inequality gap. Once a major energy exporter, my country now depends mostly on imports and remittances.

It is in grieving our normality that all Venezuelans find a point of connection. But memory is not necessarily exact, and this recollection of voices includes, in some cases, the flawed view of the past as the only safe place and our known normality as a healthy one. Looking closely, however, we can also find in that same past the answers to the contradictory and multi layered Venezuela we see today. The illusion we built on oil seems to vanish rapidly, and it feels as if I’m trying to photograph a lake before it becomes a desert.” Fabiola Ferrero

The work shown here is part of an upcoming monograph ‘Venezuela, The Wells Run Dry’, by Fabiola Ferrero with Milagros Socorro, co-published by Fondation Carmignac and Reliefs Editions available from October 27th.

A night view of a building in Parque Central, an urban and cultural complex in Caracas built in the 70’s, it was once considered the most important urban complex of Latin America. Today, its infrastructure suffers from lack of maintenance, leaks and insecurity. Fabiola Ferrero for Fondation Carmignac
José Rivas’ daughter, Karelys (29) on a portrait taken outside their home in Campo Alegría, an oil camp in Zulia State, Venezuela, in February 2022. Rivas was an oil worker until he was let go publicly during the national oil strike in 2002-2003. Although he didn’t actively took part in it, he was absent because of an injury in his leg, and was fired. Karelys now lives with him inside the oil camp, in a house that is still legally property of PDVSA, the oil State Company. Fabiola Ferrero for Fondation Carmignac
A view of Parque Central, an urban and cultural complex in Caracas built in the 70’s, it was once considered the most important urban complex of Latin America. Today, its infrastructure suffers from lack of maintenance, leaks and insecurity. Fabiola Ferrero for Fondation Carmignac
Jeonaldo Rodríguez in his house in Campo Alegría, an oil camp located in Zulia State, Venezuela, in Feberuary 2022. He worked for 22 years in the oil industry until he was let go in 2003 after the national oil strike. His name appeared in the press as part of famous lists made by late president Hugo Chávez to release everyone involved in the strike. He now lives off of raising cows and trading their milk for other food products. The house he lives in is still legally property of PDVSA, the State oil company. Fabiola Ferrero for Fondation Carmignac
An oil tank inside Lake Maracaibo, Zulia State. After years of lack of investment and maintenance, Venezuela’s oil production hit a historical low in recent years, deepening the crisis of a country whose economy depends almost fully on oil income. Fabiola Ferrero for Fondation Carmignac

To see more of Fabiola’s works, here

La fotógrafa del mes de octubre es Fabiola Ferrero

Fabiola Ferrero es periodista y fotógrafa nacida en Caracas en 1991. Su obra es el resultado de cómo los recuerdos de su infancia contrastan con la actual Venezuela, su país de origen. Aprovechando su formación en periodismo, que estudió en Caracas (UCAB), desarrolla proyectos visuales de largo aliento en Sudamérica, con especial atención a la crisis de Venezuela. Su formación en fotografía incluye el Joop Swart Masterclass 2019 y el Eddie Adams Workshop.

Fue miembro del jurado del World Press Photo 2022 región de América del Sur y becaria de la Fundación Magnum en 2018. Interesada en abrir espacios de formación a otros fotógrafos de la región, Fabiola fundó Semillero Migrante, un programa de fotografía en español en torno a la migración. Entre sus premios se encuentran el Inge Morath Award, el 6 Mois Photojournalism Award y el Getty Images Editorial Grant. También fue finalista de la Alexia grant, del Eugene Smith Memorial Fund y del Premio Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer. Además de desarrollar investigaciones independientes en América Latina, su trabajo ha aparecido en TIME, The New York Times, National Geographic, M Magazine, Le Monde, The Wall Street Journal y Bloomberg Business Week, entre otros. Es la duodécima ganadora del Premio Carmignac de Fotoperiodismo.

Venezuela, The Wells Run Dry (Venezuela, los pozos se secan)

La exposición “Venezuela, The Wells Run Dry” de Fabiola Ferrero, ganadora del XII Premio Carmignac de Fotoperiodismo, es una búsqueda por una promesa perdida. Venezuela, una democracia rica y próspera en las décadas de 1960 y 1970, lucha ahora por salir de una profunda crisis política y económica marcada por la caída de los precios del petróleo, la corrupción y la hiperinflación. Siete años consecutivos de colapso económico y crisis humanitaria compleja han ampliado la brecha de la desigualdad y han golpeado a la clase media hasta su casi destrucción. La fotógrafa venezolana se propuso buscar los rastros de los años más prósperos del país, hoy solo presentes en la memoria. Viajó por lugares que fueron símbolos de esa bonanza, en busca de los restos de un desvanecido éxito económico y cultural. Junto con escritoras locales de distintas ciudades venezolanas, fue fotografiando la decadencia de la industria petrolera, distintos centros de producción, las universidades saqueadas y abandonadas, y las últimas huellas dejadas por venezolanos que abandonaron el país. Combinando imágenes de archivo, videos y fotografías, Ferrero hace una crónica de la recesión económica de su país y de las consecuencias para sus habitantes. Compara su proyecto con intentar fotografiar un lago antes de que se convierta en un desierto. “Si hay un momento para documentar y dejar un rastro de la memoria de lo que fuimos, es ahora”. 

 “Venezuela, The Wells Run Dry” se expondrá en el Réfectoire des Cordeliers y el Port de Solférino de París del 28 de octubre al 22 de noviembre. Irá acompañada de un catálogo bilingüe francés-inglés coeditado por la Fundación Carmignac y Reliefs Editions, con fotografías y textos de Fabiola Ferrero y Milagros Socorro, periodista y escritora venezolana.

Para saber más de los trabajos de Fabiola, aquí