Medellín was built on convergence and segregation: tensions that have shaped a city in which, many sections of urban society have failed to benefit from Medellín’s growth and wealth. Its indigenous origins, the colonial exploitation that continues to this day, and the diverse migratory movements that have shaped the process of industrialisation, the organisation of urban growth and the dynamics of public policy – despite all efforts at integration, armed actors have consistently exploited these situations to fuel conflict and urban violence: ranging from the control of private daily life to the economic exploitation of the city. However, these tensions are always countered by concrete life experiences, struggles for their recognition and persistent, collective resistance. They have shaped the traumatic urban space as we know it today. Photo: The Museo Casa de la Memoria (House of Memory) in Medellín/COL 2023 and its neighbourhood. LINK

Can we see ourselves reflected in surfaces, structures and textures? Dorothee Krings (Berlin) has been, and continues to be, a photographer, amongst many other things. In recent years, she has organised private ‘trauma salons’, where participants could share personal perspectives on their own histories, their wounds and how they cope with them. For her, macro photography is an imaging technique that visually reveals what seems impossible: the deeper layers of time. Her images speak of the fragility of our world and, by extension, of our own vulnerability.