Colombia has over 10 million people who have been displaced internally due to the violence there, fueled by politics, the drug economy, and illegal gold mining with dozens of armed organizations fighting for control of lucrative territories: paramilitaries, guerrillas, and more straightforward drug cartels. That is more people than have been displaced during the recent conflicts in Syria. The Chocó province is one of the centers of this violent displacement. It is also historically the center of Afro-Colombian community, where many Africans escaped slavery and ran to in order to make a living in collective land-groups. About 80% of Chocó is of African descent with most of the rest being indigenous Emberá.
Cody Ross started long-term field research in Chocó in 2012, working with local Emberá and Afro-Colombian communities. The following photo album is from footage taken as part of the start of our project to visually document life in these communities through short video snapshots and to work on a documentary about the implications of displacement on the people of Chocó. Everyone in these clips has experienced displacement due to violence.
