Una Velocidad

After living away from my native city, Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, and several travels to many cities of the world, it came to me the needed to approach, thru documental photography, the everyday life and the lifestyle that people in Caracas have, the most dangerous city in the world by the date. By many visits to the most dangerous zones and hundreds of encounters with different personalities of this city, you can realize that no matter the age, skin color, socioeconomic status or race, each person has some battle (or struggle) and his own rhythm. This, in Caracas slang, it’s denominated “one speed”. This means the rapidity and fluency that everyone has while living in Caracas and the ability to deal and solve problems every single day. This effect impacts in different ways to each person at this valley from the Caribbean, building their characteristics and unique personalities.

There are many scenarios of struggle and different ways of battle that people in Caracas must confront in everyday life. The socio-politic scenario has a lot to do with the levels of aggression and violence, but the most impressive thing to watch is the way that every person that lives at “one speed” has no time for falling. There’s no chance to give up or stay without energies for getting it back later. The same city pushes you to bear the conditions and be faster and agile, because it’s the only way to survive and arise. The dream of improvement and looking forward for a better tomorrow it’s a constant for this people; each one directs its struggle by his own.

In this way it’s presented a scenario very varied for improvisation and a series of unexpected situations because, in Caracas, nothing is safe. You never know exactly what will or can happen; rules are not dictated by a social order, like in other cities around the world. In Caracas rules are dictated by the street and its people, so you must live in speed.