John French (1964) is a Colombian photographer, graphic designer, illustrator and teacher, whose sensibility has led him to take photography with artistic intent. The group of images selected for our platform is made up of some of the photographs taken by French at the Barranquilla Carnival, between 2010 and 2011, an event that has been declared Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

In this photographic series, titled Miradas de Carnaval, the author manages to capture, through the lens of his camera, guided by his gaze and artistic sensibility, the multicultural and multiethnic identity of that Colombian region, which is manifested in the faces and performances of its inhabitants, who flood this traditional festival with magic, music, color and joy through their cumbias, dances, costumes, and polychrome clothing.

In addition to the sociocultural content of these photographs, which reflect tradition and custom within the framework of a festivity such as the Barranquilla Carnival, French searched for the precise moment, the action of the light, the posture and framing of his objective, to shoot and capture the scene of what he wanted to highlight, the reason or center of interest, which in his case are the looks of the people who actively participate in this event. But it turns out that in these photographs there is an encounter or exchange of gazes because we look at the portrayed characters and they also look at us; some with sweetness, others with a challenging, ironic and even burlesque attitude towards those who look at them. Humor and laughter are ingredients typical of the carnival scene, with which French puts us in contact through his gaze, those of his photographed protagonists and ours.

José Gregorio Noroño