Villa Contó

Villa Conto is a small settlement deep in the Chocó region of Colombia. Gold mining here has been part of life for generations, mostly carried out by women who stand as guardians of memory and tradition. For decades, armed groups and cartels have controlled the territory and the extraction at every scale, pushing miners to navigate a fine line between tradition and illegality.

This photographic series is a fragment of an ongoing project documenting the community and women miners of Villa Conto: those who remain in this remote settlement searching for gold, as well as those who have left for larger cities in search of a different fortune. Their often unseen reality reflects a long history of strength and resilience in a region shaped by conflict and exploitation.

The raw, earthy textures of life in a secluded place, alongside the fragmented realities of urban displacement, bear witness to a community largely forgotten by the state, yet fundamental to the nation’s cultural identity.