Photography
YON FOTOS
European photographer in search of stories to tell
I am a street photographer from Marseille, France, but I really started taking street pictures in Spain while I was living with my ex-girlfriend from whom I drew much inspiration.
Photography allowed me to look up at the world around me and to see beauty where it was not obvious. What catches my eye? People. Mainly those from working-class backgrounds, who despite their discretion, represent more than half of the world's population. I try to transcribe their daily life, their reality. My photos are meant to be expressive, spontaneous. I always try to bring out the “raw material” of the people I shoot.
Every picture seen on this website can be printed and delivered. You can reach me here, by mail or on my Instagram account: yon.fotos.
WORK
This series highlights those who have no other choice to undertake precarious jobs to survive. Informal workers are not recognized, protected or even governed by labor law or social protection measures, which exposes them to numerous risks: illness, accidents at work, unemployment, old age. Their unproductive activities do not guarantee them a sufficient income to emancipate themselves, moreover it is very difficult for these people to get out of this situation due to their exclusion from traditional financial circuits, as banks do not trust them.
FAVELAS
The formation of slums in Latin America went with the industrial boom and the rural exodus that culminated in the 1960s. The most destitute populations settled on the hillsides to build their own housing, in violation of current legislation. With limited access to essential services (water, electricity, transport, health and education), favela dwellers are excluded from the right to live with dignity in the city, and from the right to a satisfactory environment.
This phenomenon of social exclusion is at the root of the development of a parallel economy and numerous illegal drug, arms and prostitution trades, all of which are survival strategies for favela inhabitants. In Brazil and Colombia, criminal organizations exert strict control over the inhabitants of favelas, reinforcing their physical and social isolation.
More recently, the recognition of favelas by the public authorities and their cultural expansion throughout the world testify to a hope for the population who, behind their suffering, reveal an artistic sensibility, a spirit of community and mutual aid. The new generation is taking advantage of the boom in tourism and new technologies to set up a profitable business and rise socially, despite the barriers imposed by such an environment.
INDIGENOUS
The indigenous people of Colombia's Amazon and Sierra Nevada regions have an ancestral culture that goes back thousands of years, long before European colonization.
Today, these peoples are struggling to survive. Numerous factors, such as demographic growth, the appropriation and degradation of natural resources by multinationals and the presence of armed militias, are threatening the environment on which these communities depend for their livelihood. Moreover, in a context of globalization, the multiplication of commercial exchanges and the arrival of new technologies are shaking up their way of life and their vision of the world. This upheaval is undermining the transmission between old and new generations. Young people, who see the West as an escape to a better life, have to find their way between tradition and modernity.
