Juanita Escobar

Juanita Escobar

Liz wasn't born when her parents left Chocó. They lived in a small, isolated village in the rainforest, poor and plagued by violence. They fled as far away as possible. They navigated the mighty Orinoco River and arrived at Puerto Ayacucho, in the state of Amazonas, Venezuela where she was born. In 2017, Liz was forced to cross the Orinoco border and escape the severe crisis in Venezuela. She settled on the Colombian shore, where she continues to live today. The photo was taken on this shore, and her eyes look towards her home in Venezuela. 1 April 2017, Puerto Carreño, Vichada Department, Colombia.

Juanita Escobar is a Colombian documentary photographer whose work explores the human landscape, capturing the geography of emotions and identities. Rooted in ethnography, she has spent 17 years living and working in the Orinoco region. Escobar is a National Geographic Explorer (2023), the recipient of the Magnum Foundation Fund (2018), and the National Colombo-Swiss Prize of Photography (2009). She is author or co-author of five books, including Solo Apto Para Mí Misma (2022) and Orinoco – Frontera de Agua (2019).

Her work has been published internationally in Der Spiegel, Geo, Vogue Latam, National Geographic Proof, Time LightBox, The New York Times Lens Blog, The Nation, and The New Yorker. Escobar’s photographs have been exhibited globally, including in Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, New York, Barcelona, Lucerne, Zurich, Tel Aviv, and Cambodia.