My work is always based on reality. I'm not an artist that creates works of fiction. I'm not an artist who is in my studio inventing things out of my imagination - everything is based on reality, on real facts.

As we all know, the objective and mission of the photojournalist is to show us the reality of the world. And in order to capture that reality, they go to dangerous and tragic places at the expense of their lives. I see them as the conscience of our humanity; they represent for me what is left of our humanity.

I remember her eyes. The eyes of Gutete Emerita.

Journalistic information and presentation actually discourage action... we think we know, and because we think we know, we think we care. But it stops there.

I think that all art is socially conscious. There is no alternative. Whatever we produce contains a political and social statement. There's no way to avoid that, unless it is pure decoration. But even pure decoration has also some value because you can read pure decoration as a way to ignore the reality that is around us, saying, "Well, I'm not interested. I just like to paint this wall blue.

I follow many tragedies around the world. At one point I [will] feel like I've accumulated an enormous amount of information, a critical mass amount of information, and I feel like acting - reacting. My manifesto has always been the same: I cannot act in the world before understanding the world. I will not move a finger. I will not come up with any ideas - nothing - until I actually understand what is happening.

Our society is blind. We have lost our ability to be affected by imagery.