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Photojournalist Captures Social Contrasts In Paraguay, Here Are His 33 Most Captivating Photos
Interview With Artist
Learning about different cultures and their social contrasts through images can be pretty powerful. And nothing can bring you to Paraguay as quickly as this veteran photojournalist working for AP as Staff Photographer.
Jorge Saenz is an accomplished photographer from Argentina, who, since 1989, has called Paraguay his home. There, he focused on documentary essays portraying the lives of young people in compulsory military service and those in juvenile prisons, shedding light on these often-overlooked aspects of society.
However, you might also know Jorge for his children's photography books about dinosaurs that are based on an Instagram photo story the photographer previously created while traveling.
Either way, all his work is targeted toward education, offering unique perspectives on the world and its complexities.
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"A musician dressed in a feathered costume pays tribute to Saint Francisco Solano for a fulfilled prayer during a procession in his honor in Emboscada, Paraguay, Monday, July 24, 2023. Legend has it that while lying on his death bed in a Peruvian convent birds perched on Solano’s window and would sing to him, inspiring his followers to dress in bird costumes and he became known as known as the Saint of the birds."
I'm curious about the mask of the person behind her.
Bored Panda reached out to Jorge, who told us more about his photography journey.
First of all, Jorge shared a moment from his 40 years in photography that changed how he tells stories with the camera.
“In 1989 I participated in a workshop with Magnum photographers, my tutor was Susan Meiselas and it was the most important leap in my way of seeing and constructing my speech, especially in developing very long-term essays. Most of the essays published as books took me many years of work. I think that is what is most difficult for new generations of photographers.”
"Mbya Guarani woman Margarita Jiménez, who is 64 years old, from the Indigenous community of Paso Yobai, poses for a photo before joining a march calling on the government to provide more economic support to farmers and peasants during the annual rally of the National Peasants Federation in Asuncion, Paraguay."
"Festival Catholic parishioner Sergio Espinoza, 11, wearing his feathered costume during the feast day of St. Francis Solano, in Emboscada, Paraguay, Saturday, July 24, 2021. Espinoza is paying back a promise his father made to the 16th-century patron saint for recovering from an illness."
Never underestimate the power of faith, or how it can totally flummox those who don't share it.
We wanted to know why Jorge decided to focus on people often ignored by society, like youth in military service or in prison.
Jorge wrote: “Because their lives deserve it. Some books have been a political success, such as the Military Service, which was taken as a tool by Conscientious Objectors in Paraguay and was decisive in the promulgation of a law that exempts young people who do not want to do so. When I published the essay, there were more than 19,000 conscripts yearly in the army, subjected to mistreatment and with fatal consequences each year. Today there are no more than 2,000. If you do the math, there are more than half a million young people who were saved from this mistreatment in the thirty years that passed. Sometimes we have the luck to give the tool that the movement needs…
The example of refusal was that of the juvenile prison. A couple of years after the book was published, there was a very large riot in which a dozen young people died...”
"Pink liquid waste from the Durli Leathers S.A. tannery sits in a deposit dug into an open field in Paraguari, Paraguay, Friday, Aug. 13, 2021, on the day the Environment Ministry stopped its operations. Nearby landowners fear that once it rains the liquid will contaminate the streams that drain into Lake Ypoa, and suspect the deaths of eight cattle with bloody diarrhea were caused by drinking water near this deposit."
"Babe, the brave little pig..."
It's easy to be brave when you've got the balls for it.
In Jorge’s book "Classes, Paraguay 2003-2013", the photographer exposes various contrasts in the land of Paraguay. We asked him to share how he shows both the good and the tough sides of this country.
“I left political militancy to dedicate myself to photojournalism and I am always interested in showing inequality. One does not choose the class one is born into and the possibilities from these differences in opportunities condition millions,” explained Jorge.
"Fast Delivery!"
Regarding children's books with dinosaur characters, we wanted to know what made Jorge decide to create them.
“It started as a game with my youngest son, who is already 10 years old now. I traveled for work to different countries with his Dino and I sent him the photos he took with my phone in different places.
Lugo was so successful when I started uploading on IG that I started to think more about the texts, for adults. Inspired by a book by Montesquieu called Persian Letters, where a character strange to society observes and can share his thoughts with total innocence and disinterest.I think that the most important problem in formal education, and where all the other problems arise later, is that children are not taught to think for themselves in school. The Dinos are like a game, they start with photographs to introduce questions that the child is motivated to ask and answer. I did not want to tell a story but rather that the children themselves be the ones who develop their own thinking based on the things they see,” replied Jorge.
"A paratrooper handles a snake before marching in the 113th Independence Day parade in Asuncion, Paraguay, Tuesday, May 14, 2024."
"Police dog instructor Adriana Ayala posse with her dog for a selfie during an exhibition to celebrate the 212th Anniversary of Paraguay´s Independence from Spain, in Asunción, Paraguay, Sunday, May 14, 2023."
As for social media, we wanted to know how telling stories there is different from traditional photography, and why it is important.“These platforms allow us to reach everyone. The increase in followers occurred precisely from the Dinos, it was spread by many important publications in the world, including yours. And he always did it in several languages, which made it easier to read. The problems they always talk about are common to a large part of humanity. When I published it on the IG page they had more than 900,000 likes globally. In a place as far away as Japan, for example, there were several tens of thousands,” wrote Jorge.
Lastly, Jorge added: “All my projects have been based on total trust in the intelligence of the readers, on an implicit alliance with the most intelligent part of each person. Don't be afraid to always say what you think. It's the only way for things to change.”
"A volunteer firefighter hoses down a hut to prevent it from burning during a brush fire at the Banco San Miguel neighborhood of Asuncion, Paraguay, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. Unusually dry weather is provoking fires on open fields, private ranches and public lands around the city."
"A child covers his face with a woven palm frond during Palm Sunday Mass in Caacupe, Paraguay, Sunday, March 28, 2021. As deaths daily average increase during this year's Holy Week, the government decreed that only 20 people can attend each mass, a preventive measure to curb the spread of COVID-19."
"A life size cutout of Pope Francis stands in the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Caacupe where thousands of Catholics are gathering to mark the Virgin's feast day in Caacupe, some 40 miles east of Asuncion, Paraguay, Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021. The pilgrimage to honor Paraguay’s patron saint resumes after two years. COVID-19 pandemic restrictions had prevented faithful from taking part in the annual celebration."
"Vultures stand on the Victorious Peace Monument in Cerro Lambare park in Asuncion, Paraguay, Sunday, March 31, 2024."
Vultures - how appropriate for a monument erected by Alberto Stroessner.
"May they end well and start better!"
"Motorcycles seized by police for allegedly being stolen are lying in a pile at the municipal police station in Asuncion, Paraguay, Monday, March 13, 2023."
"Carauari, Brazil. In the Amazon, a giant fish helps save the rainforest."
"Perla Fleitas, left, and Javier Morlantt, two farmers from Caaguazu, kiss farewell after 4 days of camping out in the capital with other farmers to demand their debt with private and government banks be forgiven, in Asuncion, Paraguay, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020."
"Street performer Cesar Gimenez works an intersection in Asuncion, Paraguay, Tuesday, March 24, 2020. Even though people have been ordered home under curfew in an attempt to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, Gimenez is performing on the streets."
"In this Jan. 20, 2013 Photo children play with bubbles during Kuetuvy Ache town foundation 12th-anniversary celebrations at Canindeyu department, some of 400 kilometers North-East from Asuncion, Paraguay, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013. According to Paraguay’s National Commission for Truth and Justice, the Ache were hunted by white men until the 1970s, reducing the group’s population to 1,500."
"After the hard work of slaughtering a beef, Leocadio Pereira sells the result on the side of Route 1 about 200 km from Asuncion."
"A farmer carries a boy during a march organized by the National Farmers Federation to ask for economical support from the government in Asuncion, Tuesday, March 24, 2009."
"A member of the Guasu Front light candles in front of the Migone Hospital where former President Fernando Lugo is recovering from surgery after suffering a stroke the day before, in Asuncion, Paraguay, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022. Doctors said his condition was stable with no evidence of significant lesions though they warned it was too early to tell the extent of the damage."
"Actors perform in a Way of the Cross reenactment as part of Holy Week celebrations, in Atyra, Paraguay, Friday, March 29, 2024. Holy Week commemorates the last week of Jesus Christ’s earthly life which culminates with his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday."
"Nurse Mirian Arrua talks to the press before receiving the nation's first shot of the Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-1 . . . . 22, 2021."
"A urinal is marked with black tape to prevent use as a measure to encourage safe social distancing in a shopping mall bathroom in Asuncion, Paraguay, Friday, June 5, 2020. The government has eased the lockdown it put in place to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, authorizing the opening of some stores and restaurants as part of a plan coined, "Intelligent Quarantine.”"
They did this where I work, but it doesn't really change anything. The same number of people are going to use the bathroom per day. This just slows the line down.
"Drivers wait to undergo a free PCR COVID test at a drive-thru testing site on a racetrack in Capiata, Paraguay, Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022."
"Inmates protest from the roof of the Tacumbu prison in Asuncion, Paraguay, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. According to police who spoke on local news television stations, inmates have taken hostages, including visitors and prison guards."
"A woman takes pictures with her cellphone at the Katara mosque, in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022."
"People sit and swim at Katara Beach, in Doha, Qatar, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022."
If you are interested in Paraguay, read Tomb of the Inflatable Pig by John Gimlette
If you are interested in Paraguay, read Tomb of the Inflatable Pig by John Gimlette
