What's up everyone, welcome back to another episode of Sombra Y Cultura. If this is your first time here with me, welcome!

Today, we're going to talk about a photographer whose work really caught my attention because, at first glance, his photographs might seem quiet.

They aren't always about a dramatic event or a famous person. Many of his images focus on everyday spaces, objects, and parts of the city that people often overlook.

But the more I researched Fernell Franco, the more I realized that his photography was deeply connected to the city where he lived, the changes happening around him, and the experiences that shaped the way he photographed.

Fernell Franco was a Colombian photographer whose career was closely tied to Cali. His work explored urban life, but what made his photography interesting was that he wasn't only documenting what he saw. He was experimenting with photography itself, changing the surface of his prints and finding new ways to represent a city that was constantly transforming.

His photographs show how much can be discovered by paying attention to the places and details that many people pass by every day.

So let's dive into Fernell Franco's photography journey.

Fernell Franco was born in 1942 in Versalles, Colombia.

When he was eight years old, his family moved to Cali in 1951. This happened during a period of intense political conflict in Colombia, and his family left their home because of threats connected to his father's political beliefs.

Cali would become the place that shaped Franco's life and his photography. It was where he grew up, developed his career, and created many of the photographs that would later become recognized internationally.

Unlike many photographers who enter the field through formal education, Franco's path was based largely on experience and observation.

He began working in photography through practical jobs, including a period as a fotocinero. A fotocinero was a street photographer who photographed people passing through public spaces and later offered those photographs for purchase.

It was a very direct way of learning photography. He was interacting with people, observing everyday situations, and understanding how photography could exist within ordinary life.

Eventually, Franco moved into photojournalism. He worked for newspapers in Cali, including Occidente and El País, while also contributing to publications such as Cromos and Diners.

He also worked with the advertising agency Hernán Nichols Publicidad and continued developing his own personal photography projects.

In 1972, Franco held his first exhibition at Galería Ciudad Solar in Cali. Around this period, he began developing one of his first major personal series, Prostitutas, which explored prostitution in Buenaventura.

What stood out to me about Franco's career is that even while he worked as a photojournalist, he was interested in looking beyond simply recording events.

He was paying attention to environments, spaces, and the stories hidden within everyday life.

And that relationship with Cali would become one of the most important parts of his photography.

During the 1970s, Cali was experiencing major cultural changes.

The city was becoming more industrialized, and artists, writers, filmmakers, and photographers began focusing more attention on urban life and popular culture.

Franco became part of this important period in Colombian visual arts, alongside other artists and filmmakers who were also exploring Cali, including members of what became known as the Cali Group.

This was a moment when the city itself became a subject.

Rather than looking only at traditional ideas of beauty or important historical events, Franco focused on everyday environments and the people who shaped the city.

One thing that stood out to me while researching Franco was how often he photographed things that could easily be ignored.

A street, a building, an interior space, or an object could become meaningful because of the way he observed it.

Throughout his career, Franco created series including Prostitutas, Interiores, Billares, Demoliciones, Retratos de Ciudad, and Amarrados.

Each project explored a different part of urban life, but they were connected by his interest in change, memory, and the transformation of spaces.

Another important part of Franco's photography was his experimentation with the physical image itself.

He didn't always see a photograph as something that was finished once it was printed.

He worked directly with photographs using materials such as chemicals, pencils, and sprays, creating images that existed somewhere between photography and other visual arts.

At a time when photography was still gaining recognition as a fine art medium in Colombia, Franco was exploring ways to expand what photography could be.

One of Fernell Franco's most recognized series is Amarrados, which translates to Bundles.

The project began with something very ordinary: objects wrapped, tied, covered, and stored in markets throughout Cali.

At first, these objects might seem like simple details from everyday life. But Franco saw something more in them.

He became interested in the way things were bundled and protected, and how those actions connected to larger ideas about concealment, memory, and the ways people deal with difficult realities.

Franco explained that while sitting in the center of a busy market, he noticed how everything was wrapped and stored. Those objects led him to think about the ways people also try to cover, protect, and separate themselves from experiences of violence and loss.

What makes Amarrados interesting is that Franco was not directly photographing violence.

Instead, he was looking at the traces left behind and the everyday surroundings where people continued living.

Another important series was Demoliciones.

Through this work, Franco photographed spaces that were disappearing and changing.

Buildings were being removed, neighborhoods were transforming, and parts of the city were constantly being replaced.

This idea of transition appears throughout much of his work.

Franco was interested in the temporary nature of cities—the way something could exist one moment and disappear the next.

His series Billares, Interiores, and Retratos de Ciudad continued this exploration of everyday spaces and the people who occupied them.

Through these projects, Franco created a visual record of Cali during a period of major transformation.

Throughout his career, Franco received important recognition for his photography and visual arts contributions, including awards at Colombian visual arts exhibitions, the Havana Biennial, the Colombian Photography Award, and recognition from Harvard University and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.

Even with these achievements, much of his work remained relatively unknown internationally during his lifetime.

After his death in 2006 in Cali, interest in his photography continued to grow.

In 2016, the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in Paris organized Cali Clair-Obscur, the first major European retrospective dedicated to his work.

The exhibition introduced Franco's photography to a wider audience and helped highlight the importance of his contribution to Colombian photography.

Fernell Franco's contribution to photography comes from the way he expanded the idea of documentary photography.

He showed that documenting a place does not always require photographing major events.

Sometimes, a city can be understood through ordinary spaces, objects, and daily routines.

His experimentation with photographic materials also challenged traditional ideas about what a photograph could be.

For Franco, photography was not only about capturing reality. It was also about exploring how images are created and how they can communicate ideas.

His career represents an important moment in Colombian photography, when artists were finding new ways to explore identity, culture, and urban life.

When looking at Fernell Franco's career, one lesson that stands out is the importance of paying attention to your surroundings.

Franco spent much of his life photographing Cali.

He didn't need to constantly search for something completely new. He found stories by returning to familiar places and observing how they changed over time.

Another lesson is the importance of experimentation.

Franco showed that photography does not necessarily end when the shutter closes.

The printing process, editing process, and physical changes made to an image can all become part of creating a photograph.

His work reminds photographers that there are many different ways to approach an image.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS

The more I researched Fernell Franco, the more I kept coming back to his relationship with Cali.

What stood out to me was that his photographs weren't just about documenting a city.

They were about observing how a city changes.

Buildings disappear. Businesses appear and vanish. Communities adapt. Objects are moved, covered, and forgotten.

Franco found stories in those moments of transition.

I think that's what makes his photography so interesting. He wasn't always searching for the obvious photograph.

He was paying attention to the details that many people ignored.

And sometimes, those overlooked details tell us just as much about a place as the major events happening around it.

Thank you for listening to another episode of Sombra Y Cultura.

If you want to learn more about Fernell Franco, I've provided some links that direct you to Instituto de Vision which contains additional information as well as some of his work, Fundacion Fernell Franco, and lastly a profile dedicated to Fernell on Toluca Fine Art

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Until Next Time!