Faces: Federico Mejia Finds Humanity in the Spaces Between Division
Colombian photographer and anthropologist Federico Mejia received a Gold Award in Documentary & People Photography at the World Grand Prix Photography Awards 2026 Autumn Season for Faces. Photographed in a Tel Aviv street market during Passover in 2023, the work considers how different identities share ordinary public spaces amid wider social and political tensions. Based in Bogotá, Mejia brings more than a decade of documentary and visual-ethnographic practice to this encounter.
Faces. Tel Aviv, Israel. Three people overlap in a crowded space, their faces almost merging into one another in the darkness. In a region so often described through conflict, borders and divisions, everyday life tells a more complicated story. People of different backgrounds continue to meet, share spaces and become part of the same social fabric. The photograph is about that coexistence: not the absence of conflict, but the ordinary human interactions that continue alongside it.
Interview
Q: What is the narrative or story behind this award-winning piece, and what inspired you to capture this particular moment?
Federico Mejia: I photographed Faces in a street market in Tel Aviv during Passover in 2023, on my first visit to Israel. I had planned a personal documentary project about religious and spiritual life in Jerusalem, but growing tensions and concerns about violence limited my time there to one afternoon. Working independently, I became interested in the diversity of Tel Aviv and the wider region, and in how people from different backgrounds continue to share public spaces. I wanted to express this through their faces: differences in skin tone, features and texture became a way of thinking about both distinct identities and common humanity.
Q: Were there any unexpected creative or technical hurdles during the making of this work, and how did you overcome them?
Federico Mejia: I usually work with a fixed 35mm lens, but I had been experimenting with telephoto lenses and the compression of perspective. Philip-Lorca diCorcia’s Heads series was an influence, particularly the way faces emerge against dark backgrounds. My photographs in the open streets were not working as I hoped. Around midday, I moved into the market’s narrow alleys, where intense sunlight illuminated people against deep shadows. That contrast, combined with the telephoto lens, allowed me to concentrate on their faces and reduce distractions.
Q: How do you approach the balance between technical skill and emotional/artistic expression in your photography?
Federico Mejia: Technical skill and artistic expression constantly inform one another. My background in anthropology shapes the way I observe people and understand their contexts. I am interested in the relationships and tensions of everyday life, and I try not to let technique determine what deserves to be photographed.
Q: What key emotion or thematic message do you hope viewers walk away with when experiencing this piece?
Federico Mejia: I hope viewers question the differences and similarities between us, especially the ways we perceive people from other backgrounds. How can we share streets and markets peacefully as equals, yet under different political or social circumstances come to regard those same people as enemies? Faces invites reflection on how perceptions are formed and how easily the boundary between coexistence and division can shift.
Q: In your view, what role does photography play in today’s world?
Federico Mejia: As photography becomes increasingly accessible through smartphones and artificial intelligence, photographers have an opportunity to distinguish themselves through ethical, aesthetic and conceptual attention. Photography has an important political and social role, but its politics are not only in its subjects; they are also in how we choose to observe. For me, it remains the most poetic visual art. The instant will never fade; we simply have to keep it poetic.
Editor’s Note
Faces uses proximity and overlapping figures to make a public encounter feel both intimate and unsettled. Mejia’s use of strong light, deep shadow and compressed perspective makes individual faces legible while refusing to separate them neatly from one another. The image does not claim that coexistence resolves political conflict; rather, it asks viewers to recognise the complexity of everyday human contact. His anthropological approach gives the photograph a conceptual framework without diminishing its immediate visual force.
Artist Biography
Federico Mejia is a Colombian photographer and anthropologist based in Bogotá. His practice combines documentary photography, visual ethnography and personal projects exploring cultural identity, spirituality, territory and relationships with the environment.
Follow Federico Mejia
Portfolio: https://federicomejia.com
Representaciones project: https://federicomejia.com/projects/representaciones/
About the World Grand Prix Photography Awards
The World Grand Prix Photography Awards (WGPPA) is an international online photography competition welcoming photographers working across a range of creative disciplines. The awards recognise photographic achievement and provide opportunities for winning works to be showcased online. Selected winners are also featured in editorial interviews published by WODACC, giving readers a closer look at the stories and creative processes behind their work.
For photographers exploring international photography competitions with opportunities for online visibility and winner interviews, WGPPA offers a way to share their photographic practice with a wider audience.
Explore the competition: https://www.wgppa.com/
