Alejandro Cegarra wins Ian Parry

摘要

Venezuelan photographer Alejandro Cegarra has won the Ian Parry Scholarship 2014 with a series called The Tower of David, documenting the illegal inhabitants of an unfinished skyscaper in Caracas.When construction faltered on the Centro Financiero Confinanzas in the 1994 banking crisis, around 2000 families moved in, turning the building's raw bones into homes. The tower has a bad reputation, but Cegarra says the squatters actually just want safety and a place to call home. "I just went to the door and started talking with a guy who, by coincidence, was the 'president' of the tower," he says. "Lucky me. He introduced me to other people and they put their trust in me. All my friends were asking me, Are you stupid? Are you crazy? Are you stupid and crazy?!' but everything turned out well. They are honest people and I can now call many people inside the tower my friends."