Photographer Javier Arcenillas, recently recognized with two prizes in a couple of categories at the Sony World Photography Awards, is presenting his Sicarios (Hired Assassins) series at the Aranapoveda art gallery.
The exhibition –open from early June thru July 27 within the framework of PhotoEspaña- includes one of the most complete series (15 pieces) that have grabbed the abovementioned award. Sicarios is Javier Arcenillas’ latest photographic project: a chronicle of the lives and actions of hired assassins in Santiago de Guatemala, documented by means of photographs, videos and installations.
For this exhibit, Javier Arcenillas hanged out with the hired assassins and documented not only their activities, but also shared their viewpoints on the cops and their natural environment. He managed to narrate the damage they cause to the city’s social fabric.
According to the artist, the hired assassins are killers in a highly violent society and, in a way they are also victims of what they stand for. Most of them hail from very poor segments of the society and lack education and family support. Many of them never survive the 25th birthday.
Javier Arcenillas (Spain, 1973) has won over a hundred international awards, like the Premio Ejército, the Premio de las Artes de Prensa, KODAK Joven Fotógrafo, Caminos de Hierro, Beca del Fondo Social Europeo, Euro Press by Fujifilm INJUVE, Tercer Premio FotoPress’05, Médicos del Mundo’06, Una Vision’06, ENS’08, a finalist at the OJO DE PEZ’09 and Unión Latina PREMIO 2009; Sony World Photography Award’10 and ’11, and finalist at the FotoEvidence 2011 Libro, among others. Since late 2010 he’s been working on a report entitled “The Hired Assassin of Zion.” He currently shares his time between audiovisual projects and diplomatic jobs.
ARANAPOVEDA Gallery
C/ Lope de Vega, 22, 12 28014 Madrid
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