Portrait of Beauty and Humanity

The sound of a remote but familiar voice brought an expert in image to a country desperate to rebuild its own. Nigel Barker, one of the worlds most renowned photographers, knew the unmistakable tone of Julia Salvi’s words. Then again, long before they belonged to the creator of one of the most important music festivals to date, they belonged to “Mrs. Salvi”, the mother of one of Nigel’s close childhood friends.

Today, Nigel Barker is much more than the main reason why women all over the world, myself included, are devoted to ANTM. He’s a published author, filmmaker, photographer extraordinaire, and master of all that is visual, and even some things that are not. But above all, he is a man of passion, a great humanitarian, and a gentleman as there are few now a days, in the full and literal sense of the word.

He landed in Cartagena without knowing what to expect. But his presence in the festival was validated by his undeniable fashion expertise, his love for music, and his social activism. And on these three pillars, the schedule of his short visit was carefully built. He was welcomed to Cartagena with the benefit concert for the Granitos de Paz Foundation. “Driving into Cartagena at dusk and seeing the walled city for the first time was breath taking. Then seeing a harp virtuoso perform in the beautiful chapel of this amazing hotel was like arriving in heaven”.

But music is much more than just a passion to Nigel Barker. It serves as a definitive element in both his life and work. He uses it to provoke his subjects and evoke from them whatever emotion he needs his images to portray. He reaches out to the soothing chords of a classical piece to mitigate the stress that being an innocent victim to his lens can sometimes cause. In other instances, he’ll turn his studio into a rhythm and rhymes party to the beat of hip hop to extract the vivacious colors of joy. And he’s seen Jack, his 6 year old son, open up and exude confidence while playing his guitar. “Music moves people and that makes a photograph come alive”.

The reason for his visit to Colombia extended far beyond being a special guest at Ana Urrea’s runway show (Los Matices del Alma – The Colors of the Soul), and now, Nigel Barker has become a discoverer and admirer of one of the world’s best kept secrets: the beauty of Colombia.

“This country is geographically gifted, but it’s beauty, and most importantly, the heartbeat of the city – are its people”. This is why, when asked how to change the country’s image, he insists that the work has to be done from the inside, out. “Beauty comes from within, and a nation is just the sum of its People”, he states, and he believes that as the Colombian works to provide for its citizens and improve their conditions and their way of life, the rest will simply fall into place.

“Rarely have I fallen in love with a people and place so quickly”, he tweeted while waiting for the airplane that would take him back to New York. He left with a new found mission as ambassador and spokesman for the truth behind Colombia, and vowed to return soon to see what other treasures are hidden amongst the various geographies of this beautiful land.

By: Yolanda E. Ossa-Eslait

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