Jugando

"This series of pictures titled Jugando (Playing) was shot in Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s most affluent city. Consisting of over one hundred images presented as a slide show, the series follows a group of boys, three brothers and their cousin, as they show me around their neighborhood in a peripheral area of the city. The series was shot in 2010 and edited in 2015, and it is being shown for the first time during Videobrasil.

The city of Santa Cruz is situated in the tropical region of the country, unlike the capital La Paz, which is located high in the Andes Mountains. At the time these images were captured, this region was at great odds with the government of president Evo Morales. Among other things, people believed his administration privileged the highlands of the country, despite the wealth the lowlands generated. In Santa Cruz, secession from Bolivia had been proposed.

Despite having significant pockets of wealth and being in the midst of an improving economy, the sight of children working is common in Bolivia and throughout Latin America. However, for someone who has not spent much time in Santa Cruz, the sight of kids hauling materials on a weatherworn horse-drawn carriage is surprising, though not unheard of. I was so intrigued that, when I saw a group of kids driving a carriage, I approached them with an idea for a video project. Later, I met with them and their parents but abandoned the idea of the video and simply asked the kids to show me around the area they lived as I took pictures. 

This series was shot during a single afternoon. Not having planned anything, the resulting images were the product of a kind of game that took place between them, the camera and myself. They joked with each other, played it up and looked for ways to surprise me, as I held tight to the carriage while it raced down dusty roads from one site to another.

While visiting a cemetery, an ostrich farm, a papaya farm, real estate developments and even stumbling upon the remains of what appeared to be an animal ritual offering, complex social dynamics emerged. It became evident that economic development was bypassing many of the people who could most benefit from it. There were visible signs of political tension and discontent with the government. At every step, there were reminders of the demands poverty makes of people. Yet, in the midst of all this, I came to believe that the act of playing was a very important mechanism these kids employed as a mediation tool between themselves and their environment. 

In spite of how challenging some of the images may be, what emerges is a sense of play and innocence that remains even in the midst of an experience completely devoid of privilege and advantage. Through play, these kids pushed boundaries, reasserted their relationships, questioned social hierarchies and structures, and even challenged ideas of life and death."

Andres Bedoya in a statement to PLATFORM:VB (July 2015)