José Santiago Blanco Duran
Colombia
Biography
José Santiago Blanco Duran. Barranquilla, Colombia. Teacher of Drawing, Painting and Photography, and professional photographer. I hold a degree in Fine Arts from the Universidad del Atlántico, where I graduated in 2006.
With more than two decades dedicated to photography, Blanco Durán has received awards and mentions in highly relevant competitions and events, such as Foto Fest Colombia 2025, Festival Internacional de Fotografía Revista Capture Life (cuarta edición), revista virtual Cuenta Artes edición numero 13 vestigios, VII Salon de Artistas Plasticos y visuales de barranquilla 2025, the international competition “Miradas Creativas” in Miami, the PHoTO23 Award in Quito, the Bienal Internacional de Arte Virtual in Panama, and the Convocatoria Nacional de Fotografía “Cultiva Paz” in Colombia, among many others. His works have travelled through galleries and festivals in India, Brazil, Spain, and several cities across Latin America.
Photography awakens a sensitivity that moves from the visual to the social, allowing the photographer to connect with the reality around them. To do so, it is enough to carry out well-known photographic exercises, such as going out into the street, portraying social issues with the camera, or capturing environments different from everyday surroundings. “Photography, although strictly linked to nature, has only a factitious objectivity. The lens, that supposedly impartial eye, allows for every possible deformation of reality, since the character of the image is determined each time by the operator’s way of seeing. The importance of photography lies not only in the fact that it is a creation, but above all in the fact that it is one of the most effective means of shaping our ideas and influencing our behaviour.”
Project
Tan ausente y tan presente (LO QUE VES ES LO QUE ES…) begins with a powerful premise: ethnic diversity should not be a threat, but a richness. Inspired by the words of Nelson Mandela and by Meyerowitz’s philosophical vision of photography, it confronts us with a reality that, although documented in studies and international treaties, continues to be ignored by many. Colombia, a country with undeniable cultural and ethnic richness, still carries the weight of deeply rooted structural racism. Despite having a legal framework that promotes equity, racial barriers remain present in social structures and everyday practices. The Corte Constitucional de Colombia (2012) has recognised that racial discrimination is a latent problem, often imperceptible to those who do not experience it directly.
Blanco Durán uses his lens to reveal these inequalities, creating images that confront and provoke. His work does not seek commiseration, but awareness. Photography becomes a mirror in which society must see itself reflected, forcing it to question its own role in the perpetuation of these dynamics of exclusion. This work synthesises the paradox of racial discrimination in Colombia. Afro-descendant communities have historically been marginalised, their rights violated, and their voices silenced. However, their presence is undeniable in the construction of national identity, in music, gastronomy, the arts, and the very history of the country.
