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Join us in congratulating Charlie Cordero, one of the recipients of the $5,000 PhotoVogue Festival Grant for the global open call ‘The Tree of Life: a Love Letter to Nature.’
Charlie Cordero (among the 45 artists selected to take part in the main exhibition at the PhotoVogue Festival in March 2025) developed a project on the archipelago of San Bernardo, composed of ten islands off Colombia s Caribbean Coast. There, the human and animal population is threatened by the rising sea levels, living in continuous danger and facing the unrelenting disappearance of their land. Cordero urges us to question the status quo, and through his images, we can t avoid facing the current ecological emergency exacerbated by unregulated tourism, hitting a country already suffering from armed conflict. Through bright colors and balanced composition, the photographer gently underlines the contradictions coexisting in this land without losing a hopeful gaze. The grant he received will provide valuable support in developing his future projects and deepen his photographic research in urgent matters such as the ones that unfolded in ‘Santa Cruz del Islote’.
How did you approach capturing the daily lives of the residents in the San Bernardo archipelago?
It s been more than 8 years since I visited Santa Cruz del Islote. The first time I heard about this place I was still working at the local newspaper in the city of Barranquilla called El Heraldo, where I had done several stories about vulnerable communities living in aquatic ecosystems like Nueva Venecia, Tierrabomba or Bocas de Ceniza. It was a topic that interested me a lot, I wanted to understand what the Caribbean was about through its inhabitants and their stories. The newspaper never sent me to this island, it was until I became a freelancer that I had the opportunity to go there. It became my first personal long-term project.
I wanted to explore the living conditions of this community and also document the fight for their island, one of the most densely populated in the world. At first, it was difficult, in a closed community, where everyone knows each other and it is easy to identify the stranger. However, with each new visit, the community got to know more about me and I got to know more about the community. They have witnessed my personal and professional growth and I have witnessed the changes that the island and its population have undergone. With each visit I made new friends, I met a new family, and they began to take me part in their events and celebrations. I have accompanied them in baptisms, weddings, degrees, and parties, and today after 8 years the community trusts me and trusts in my work. They know me, respect me and appreciate me.
The first years of this project allowed me to explore my way of looking, for me it was a laboratory, the perfect setting to find my way of narrating. At this stage, I managed to publish the story in some international media. What is it like to live on the most densely populated island in the world? It was the title. However, as time went by, I began to witness the changes that the island was undergoing and how climate change was putting subsistence in this place at risk. The project began to transform.
It was evident that the community was increasingly suffering with the rising tides. Erosion in other areas of the archipelago has begun to disappear entire islands and the pressure exerted on the ecosystem by uncontrolled tourism is leaving this Afro-island population with very few options.
During the last 2 years, I have dedicated myself to researching the impacts of climate change in the San Bernardo archipelago (where Santa Cruz del Islote is located). I have had interviews with Natural Parks (state entity), environmentalists and academics like Karem Acero who has one of the most serious investigations on this topic in the country.
Can you describe a particularly impactful moment or story you encountered during your time in the archipelago?
One of the moments that has impacted me the most in all these visits to the island is when the tide rises. Normally this phenomenon occurs between September and December, however, due to climate change, it is becoming more frequent and can happen at any time of the year.
These rising tides make life increasingly difficult for this community. Last year the water reached heights that had not occurred before. The inhabitants of Santa Cruz del Islote found themselves in the middle of the night fighting so that the water did not damage the beds, the appliances or the food.
The next morning the water has not yet drained and the children begin to play in the stagnant water while the bad smells begin to appear. The entire community takes to the streets in solidarity to evacuate the water in a desperate attempt to prevent the proliferation of pests due to stagnant water, however, it may take days for the water to drain.
As the years went by, I witnessed how these tide increases became more frequent and more difficult to control. It is a situation that genuinely worries me, especially due to the number of children who live on the island.
How do you balance portraying the beauty of the islands with the urgency of their condition?
It is very difficult to hide the threats and risks to which this community is exposed with the beauty of its landscapes and its people. For me the key is to think about the beauty of what may disappear if we do not take while generating hope: Although that beauty is at risk, some people are working to save and protect it. I also find it interesting to focus more on the communities, their culture, and traditions than on scenes of erosion or dead landscapes. Ultimately, it is their customs and traditions that will disappear if they have to leave the island.
How do you believe your work can raise awareness about the impact of climate change on marginalized communities?
Santa Cruz del Islote is completely abandoned by the State. The first objective of my project is to draw the attention of local and national governments to the threat that climate change and uncontrolled tourism pose to life in the archipelago through media dissemination and exhibitions. That is why spaces like this one provided by PhotoVogue are very important for storytellers from local communities.
Secondly, make visible the actions that the community and the ecological group Eco-Sabios are implementing to combat the impact of high tides and coastal erosion. I think it is important to show who is working to protect these ecosystems, to show that they need to be helped, to show that local communities need more support to combat such complex problems.
Did you involve the local community in the storytelling process, and if so, how?
Not necessarily in the process of creating the images, however, I have worked closely with the ecological group of the archipelago called ECO-SABIOS and directed by the environmental leader Adrián Caravallo. A large part of the community of Santa Cruz del Islote is unaware of the impact that climate change is having on their territory, which is why for me environmental education is super important. One of the most important elements for me in the development of this story has been to be able, through my images and documentation, to create knowledge in young people about the threats to which they are exposed due to erosion and rising sea levels. On the island I have had the opportunity to teach environmental education and photography workshops.
I am also working together with the ecological group on the FotoXManglar project, which is still in pre-production and consists of a sale of prints in which for each photo sold, a mangrove seedling will be donated. It will be planted in the mangrove reforestation sessions carried out by the ecological group and which serves as natural protection against rising tides and erosion.
How do you see the role of photography in the broader fight against climate change and environmental injustice?
I believe that photography is a very powerful tool to combat disbelief and misinformation. The images help counter the claims of climate change deniers. Additionally, photography has the power to shed light on solutions, whether capturing conservation efforts or highlighting collective movements that inspire activism.
I believe that telling stories through images generates public engagement, compassion, and concern for the communities and animals on the front lines of climate change. Images that reveal the costs of climate change can motivate the public to act.
In my case, photography has also served as an educational tool. It has allowed me to raise awareness among young people in the community about the impact of climate change on their territory. For example, they have been able to observe not only the changes that their island is undergoing but also how the rest of the islands of the archipelago look like, landscapes to which they do not have access.
