Puta Medellín. Un acercamiento a la prostitución legal en los alrededores de la Plaza Veracruz de Medellín un martes cualquiera. El fotógrafo Marco Bello nos cuenta a través de imágenes y entrevistas sus aproximaciones a cuatro variopintas mujeres. 

"No sé cómo entrarle a una puta -dice- se supone que todos sabemos a lo que vamos pero nunca he sabido si existe un protocolo".

Whore Medellín. “It's Tuesday at the time when almost everyone leaves work. The Plaza de la Iglesia de La Veracruz is located in the heart of Medellin, Colombia. There are as many people around as in any other deserving city center of Latin America. Hundreds walk among fruit, wine and candy stands. A woman screams through speaker and offers good deals on lingerie. Women who sell ‘time for sex’ can also be seen.

The old church -from the eighteenth century- is surrounded by a small stone wall and has a small fountain that doesn’t work, although an indigenous woman uses it as a bathtub: after undressing in full day light, she washes herself with a cloth and a small water container. Children who are running after pigeons don’t even flinch. Neither do the nuns passing by.

Prostitutes are strategically distributed: either they share corners with those who sell each mobile minute at 200 pesos, either they sit next to public phone booths, or even in front of the portable baths cubicles. Some of them rest on the walls bordering the church, and some even under the church door.

I don’t know how to ‘approach’ a whore. We are all supposed to know what we are getting into, but I have never known if there is a protocol. There are choices to suit all tastes: black, dark, skinny, fat, tall, old and transvestites. Although I don’t agree with the Osmel Sousa’s* parameters of beauty, I think that we would both agree that none of them were pretty.

After observing the scene, I decide that the best tactic to accommodate my inexperience is to sit by the old fountain and wait like a bait-photographer. ‘Let the whores come to me!’ - said. Less than 15 minutes later, there she is: shy, sitting at a short distance. Only silence separates us. But literally because she doesn’t even open her mouth to yawn, and neither do I. She then leaves. Soon, another two arrive. And nothing. I quickly understand that this is not going to work. I make eye contact with one that is next to a telephone booth. She flirts. Slowly wiggling her hips, inviting me to shorten the 20 meters that separate us.”

*Osmel Sousa is Miss Venezuela’s director from many years ago.

MARCO BELLO (VENEZUELA)

Fotógrafo venezolano de una gran curiosidad y sensibilidad por las historias cotidianas, ha participado en diversos salones y concursos de fotografía como el Salón Nacional de Arte Dycvensa, Salón de Arte Juan Lovera y Salón Nacional de Arte Aragua. En 2009 ganó la mención honorífica de fotografía mención "Ciudad de Caracas" en el Salón Municipal de Artes Visuales Juan Lovera. En 2014 ganó la segunda mención honorifica de fotografía Premio Tres y 3; y en 2015 recibe una mención especial en fotoperiodismo Premio Nacional de Periodismo Simón Bolívar. Su trabajo ha sido expuesto en Caracas, Nueva York y Medellín y ha sido publicado en varios medios impresos y digitales tanto en Venezuela como en el exterior. Actualmente es Striger de la Agencia de Noticias Reuters y ejerce como docente en la Escuela de Fotografía Fotoarte, en Caracas.

http://www.marcobellophoto.com