Paraiso Perdido

“Paradise Lost” started in 2012 as a document of Venezuela’s collapse and the rise of violence. Venezuela is now one of the deadliest countries in the world. It is estimated that over 28,000 people were killed in Venezuela last year—that is, in a country roughly the size of Texas.

The project is made up of a dozen individual tragedies that clash into one another in a small fraction of time, in a tiny piece of land. Together, they amount to an untenable situation.

Venezuelan millennials have watched everything fall apart in front of their eyes. Powerless and without control over their lives, they have turned to rage. All of these people and their stories live and die in one of the richest countries in South America, which raises many questions: What happens when a country runs on resentment and violence? When do you stop being a victim and become a perpetrator? Amidst the promise of a dream that never came to be, how did Venezuela become lost?

Adriana L. Fernandez was born in Caracas, Venezuela, in the middle of chaos. Her country has defined most of what she does professionally; it has shaped what she looks for in images, in narratives, and what she cares for. Photography has been her way of digesting everything.

Fernandez holds an MA in Journalism from Columbia University. She focuses on human rights and conflict reporting.