Jaír F. Coll

Documentary photographer
   
B-Migrant - for NPR
Public Project
B-Migrant - for NPR
Copyright Jaír F. Coll 2024
Updated Oct 2022
Location Colombia
Topics Culture, Culture stories, Documentary, Immigration, Journalism, Photography, Portraiture
Visual story published in NPR Picture Show section.

Any person who engages in break dancing or breaking is known as a b-boy or b-girl. In this on-going visual project, they are b-migrants, a play-on-words I invented to refer to Venezuelan migrants who dedicate themselves to this dance founded in the early 70's in the Bronx of New York by the Afro and Puerto Rican population.

Usually, the Venezuelan migration crisis is associated with a border crossing and the search for better economic opportunities, but this is a superficial reading of a situation that has been ongoing since 2016. Each of the 2.5 million refugees from the neighboring country has a personal and intimate reason that pushed them to undertake their journey.
 
In the case of breaking artists, there are two reasons. First, to become the best in the world, which forces them to expand their way of understanding and making art from the experiences learned abroad. And second, to create a community of Venezuelan migrants around breaking as a way to face the severity of the exodus.

I started this project in December 2021 in Cali, and then in Bogotá and Medellín, cities where the migrants have been able to demonstrate that their talent is equal or sometimes above the Colombian one; for example, having a Venezuelan crew -Flava and Spice- become champion for the first time in the 25 years of Hip Hop Festival in Bogota.
 
B-Migrant is an on-going project that explores the different journeys within the migratory journey of Venezuelans engaged in breaking. That is, the existential, corporal and transcultural journeys of young people who decided to leave their country "for art".
1,924

Also by Jaír F. Coll —

Project

The Guardian: A celebration of a child who never got to be born

Jaír F. Coll
Project

For Bloomberg: Colombian Coffee Production As Total Global Exports Rise

Jaír F. Coll
Project

The New York Times: Curing Animals With Cannabis

Jaír F. Coll / Cali
Project

NYT: Venezuelans Are Injecting New Life Into Colombian Baseball

Jaír F. Coll
Project

For NYT: Opening up the eclipse to people who cannot see it

Jaír F. Coll / Palmira
Project

“Ser barra sí nos dio de comer”

Jaír F. Coll
Project

The Guardian: Lela MC, the 12-year-old who is a big presence on Bogotá’s rap scene

Jaír F. Coll / Bogotá
Project

Bloomberg: Colombia urge evacuations as volcano threatens to erupt

Jaír F. Coll / Murillo, Tolima
Project

New York Times: Christmas in February

Jaír F. Coll / Jamundí
Project

Life-changing symphony in Cali, Colombia

Jaír F. Coll / Cali
Project

The promises of Colombian ballet emerge in this academy

Jaír F. Coll
Project

Music in blood, trans in the soul - For Baudó AP

Jaír F. Coll / Cali
Project

Snapshots of resistence

Jaír F. Coll / Cali
Project

The colombian capital of salsa tries to save itself

Jaír F. Coll / Cali
Project

The miracle of the San Miguel nursing home

Jaír F. Coll / Cali
Project

Samara, a Zika daughter

Jaír F. Coll / Colombia
Project

Black Baby Jesus was born in February

Jaír F. Coll / Quinamayó
B-Migrant - for NPR by Jaír F. Coll
Sign-up for
For more access