Mexican photojournalist portrays immigration in France

This Saturday, the International Festival of Photojournalism Visa pour l’image (Visa for the Image) , in Perpignan, France , begins its 31st edition that asserts information and free investigation as one of the cornerstones of democracies despite their progressive loss of credibility among citizens.

The competition displays photographs that depict realities , often forgotten, and denounces through them that the violation of press freedom is not exclusive of countries with dictatorships.

According to the director of the festival, Jean-François Leroy , the objectives of this event are “raising awareness and make people understand the relevance of the global challenges we face.”

In this edition, the Mexican photographer Guillermo Arias will participate, who portrays the migrants that go through Mexico to arrive at the U.S. , who are exposed to the abuse of gangs, organized criminal groups, or even authorities.

“Media outlets have lost credibility by themselves, they don’t talk about the actual reality of the world anymore. When [former President of Egypt] Mursi died after appearing before the court in Cairo, in France they were talking about the heatwave and the Women’s Soccer World Cup,” Leroy said to EFE.

This festival creates a space for the situation in Syria, Yemen, Venezuela, or Soudan , or the climate crisis , and does not limit the migration crisis to what is happening in the Mediterranean.

“There also many migrants in South America that are trying to cross the border to the United States or those who escape from Venezuela,” highlighted Leroy.

Realities such as the exploitation of wild animals from the Amazon, victims of wildlife tourism, or the pollution of the biggest fishing area in freshwater of the world, lake Victoria in Africa, are presented, respectively, by American Kirsten Luce and French Frédéric Noy.

Also present are the extreme poverty and oppression suffered by Venezuelans , depicted by the photographer from Bilbao , Álvaro Ybarra , or the hunger lurking over half of Yemen ’s population, by Italian Lorenzo Tugnoli .

Mexican comics artist draws his illegal migration to the U.S.

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