Violentología, Manual del conflicto colombiano

Photojournalist Stephen Ferry's Violentology: A Handbook of the Colombian Conflict comprises a book, an exhibition and a series of booklets documenting the armed conflict in Colombia over more than four decades. The book reviews the history of violence in Colombia by accompanying the reporter's photographs with an extensive chronology that goes back to the 19th century and two texts by historian Gonzalo Sánchez and journalist María Teresa Ronderos.

The book has a very particular format because it has the length of a double page of Time magazine and its printing was done on the presses of the newspaper El Espectador as a tribute to the value of denunciation and reportage in Colombia. "The Colombian press is very brave," says Ferry, "and I wanted Violentología to have as close a relationship as possible with the newspapers. "For the reporter, "simply the image of an armed man does not explain his ideology, or who armed him.

Perhaps that image also does not explain what complex structural conditions unleashed the war and why it continues to exist. The book tries to reflect on the cultural aspect of violence in order to offer a more critical and argued vision of our recent history.