ERIKA DIETTES

Tim Hetherington / World Press Photo Fellowship 2017

For ten years Colombian artist Erika Diettes has been producing photographic and installation work in response to the violent conflict that has torn the fabric of her country for half a century.  In an extraordinary blend of photographic portraiture and innovative installation techniques  Diettes consistently brings the viewer face to face with the victims of the violence and then takes us deeper into he heart of events that occurred years before but which live daily in the agony of those who survive.  This is photography that demonstrates the power of memory as a contemporary experience, speaking of knowledge so searing that it burns forever in the minds  of the witnesses and becomes new again in the imagination of her audience.  In Sudarios (Shrouds) the close-up portraits of women forced to witness the torture of sons and husbands are printed on large sheets of sheer silk that hang in space, physically present as material objects yet translucent and ethereal, wafted by drafts as though breathing and sighing in grief.  Relicarios (Reliquaries) performs another feat of transcendent communication that blends imagination and reality in a collection of intimate objects entrusted to Diettes from bereaved families, each encased in its own "amber" tomb and laid at the feet of visitors, who stooping to enquire become drawn into the lives of these unknown people revealed through their most personal possessions.

In talking about her work, Diettes uses the words of others to describe the indescribable.

“One is never done crying. That is why making souvenirs out of other souvenirs is just beautiful. All souvenirs are sacred, and here, in these RELIQUARIES, this memory will be kept forever.”

"In spite of such pain there is always a light and you have rekindled the light that died so many years ago. I am the daughter of one of the people represented in one of the Reliquaries, and, you know what? This week I leave here revitalized with expectations, hopes and the will to fight."

"When I started the project Drifting Away (2007), I started delving not only into the subject of violence, but also into the areas of mourning.  The years of listening and the life testimonies and the mourning processes generated the visual forms that I present; they arise with the clear intention to open a space to honor, exalt and dignify the memory of a country striving to learn from its history."

Speaking for the Tim Hetherington Trust, Stephen Mayes comments, ""Erika Diettes checks every box: journalistic rigor in her research, emotional expression in her art and real world impact in her execution. She demonstrates the enormity of the Colombian conflict simultaneously with the intense personal agonies of individual grief. Her work both documents the consequence of atrocity and offers personal succor to the bereaved. While the details of the Colombian conflict are specific to the region, the experience of violent loss is global. Erika’s work describes the scale and warns of the consequences of violence while simultaneously offering structures for recovery. The Tim Hetherington Trust is proud to partner with the World Press Photo Foundation to bring her story and her talent to an international audience. We all have much to learn from her stark warnings and her inclusive approach to healing."

Learn more about the work of Erika Diettes here