Colombia has the world’s highest rate of single mothers. The photographer and his family experience this reality not as a statistic but as a “recurring wound.” In 1999, Ferley Ospina’s father was murdered in the border region of Norte de Santander, forcing him to flee with his mother. Photographing the women in his extended family, Ospina seeks to understand the “weight of absence” and the systemic and personal impact of “growing up incomplete.”
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2026 Photo Contest - South America - Stories
Name the Absence
Photographer
Ferley A. Ospina
Camera
Fujifilm X-T3
Jury comment
This project explores the absence of fathers, creating an intimate and emotionally resonant narrative. Through poetic, lyrical photography, the images successfully convey a strong sense of isolation and sadness in a subtle yet powerful way, making absence tangible without overt explanation. The project serves as a private visual diary, exemplifying the strength of photojournalism as a tool to explore, at once, personal and universal stories.