Nervous policemen patrolling an oil rich border town, a wounded Government soldier lying next to his dead colleagues, a rebel couple kissing, displaced families building new homes and a self confessed killer reading her daughter a bedtime story; these are some of the characters that inhabit the shadowy and dangerous world in which photojournalist Jason P. Howe immersed himself over a period of five years to document the Colombia behind the headlines.
Sensational news stories and cold analysis insulate us from the reality of daily life for the thousands of Colombians that have taken up arms and the millions that have fled their homes to escape the violence. These stark images reduce the decades of conflict to the basic human struggle to survive. The difference between victim and victor, rebel and refugee, assassin and activist is often only a matter of perspective. The conflict constantly evolves as ideologies, politics, social injustice and most importantly greed continue to add fuel to a self perpetuating war that is resulting in one of the world's worst and most under reported humanitarian disasters.
