NPR Uses Photojournalism Professor’s Photos to Illustrate Gang Life in Guatemala

AUSTIN, Texas—Dec. 23, 2008—National Public Radio’s (NPR) “All Things Considered” featured photographs by Donna DeCesare, associate professor of photography in the School of Journalism and a Documentary Center faculty member, in the Web version of its story about the social cleansing campaign aimed at eradicating Guatemala’s street gangs, “Private Assassins Target Gangs in Guatemala.”

The 12 black-and-white images selected from DeCesare’s body of work include portraits of former gang members with their young children, photos of teenagers attending a gang meeting and initiation, and stills of violent crime scenes and homicide victims taken between 2001 and 2007.

After returning from Guatemala, NPR reporter John Burnett contacted DeCesare to ask if she’d documented the social cleansing angle in the course of her work documenting the spread of Los Angeles gangs in Central America.

“I have been covering the campaign of social cleansing aimed at gang members for a number of years,” said DeCesare. “Because of this and the frequency of my trips to Guatemala, I have such good street contacts now that my access is like that of a local reporter.”

One of the most compelling images is that of former 18th Street gang member Jairo Borreyo—photographed with his infant daughter in 2001—who began trying to change his life by leaving his gang, joining a church, participating in a training program to become a human rights street educator and selling candy on buses to make a living instead of selling drugs. DeCesare would see him during her frequent trips to Guatemala and updated his story on occasion.

Borreyo was killed by sicarios (hitmen) in 2006. With his tattoos he still looked like a gang member. DeCesare was in Guatemala on assignment for a newspaper at the time and covered his wake and funeral.

The story can be heard and photographs can be seen on the NPR Web site.

DeCesare is known worldwide for her groundbreaking coverage of the spread of Los Angeles gangs in Central America. When she’s not teaching, she documents youth violence and violence prevention programs in the Americas. Her photographs and testimonies from Guatemalan and Colombian children who are former child soldiers, survivors of sexual abuse or who live with the stigma of HIV—began a collaboration with UNICEF that resulted in the set of protocols for photographing children at-risk, which UNICEF now promotes globally. Her latest exhibition, “Sharing Secrets: Children’s Portraits Exposing Stigma,” has been traveling the globe since 2006.

DeCesare’s most recent project documents narratives of loss and survival among those who have suffered from paramilitary violence in Colombia. Some of these photographs have been published on the Web site “Crimes of War.”

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Contact:

Erin Geisler

512-475-8071