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Delphine Blast, Quinceañera : Celebrating their fifteenth birthday in Colombia

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The “Quinceañera” or “Fifteenth Birthday Party” is a traditional celebration in Latin America and marks the transition from being a child to being a young woman for girls who are celebrating their fifteenth birthday. A real social phenomenon in Colombia, this tradition is a significant event in the life of young Colombian girls and has powerful social and emotional symbolism.

Many families, particularly those from more modest backgrounds, don’t hesitate to spend large amounts, even more that 6 million pesos (3,000 euros) to give their daughters a dream celebration. For these families, maybe more than for the others, this celebration is so important that they go as far as being in debt for several years.

This lavish celebration, which looks like a “mini-marriage” unfolds around a great reception where the Quinceañera wears a trendy, colourful dress and is the centre of attention. It is a real event with a traditional band, photographers, a themed buffet and lots of entertainment.

I decided to go and meet these girls from the lowest social classes to understand better what this celebration really means for them. In December 2014 I went to the south of Bogota, into one of the disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

I was able in this way to create a documentary work in two stages.

First of all I went to the Quinceañera of Mayra Alejandra Acosta who lives in a neighbourhood in Bogota’s southern suburbs. Mayra’s story immediately concerned me.

Youngest daughter of a family with a very modest income, she had looked forward to her celebration for years and never stopped talking about it, with stars in her eyes. She had chosen the theme “sweet candy” for her party because as she explained, the sweets are “soft and sweet” like her. In spite of the symbolic character of the Quinceañera that marks the transition into female adulthood, Mayra wavered between her status as a young girl that she seemed reluctant to leave behind and her sometimes surprising attitude as a young woman.

I then completed this documentary work by producing a series of fifteen portraits of Quinceañera in their princess dresses in the middle of their daily environment. In this way I tried to transcribe the sometimes striking gap between the social void of these young girls and the splendour as material as it is symbolic that could breed such a tradition.

Delphine Blast

Delphine Blast, Quinceañera 
Du 11 mars au 2 avril 2017
Les photographiques 2017
Centre des Expositions Paul Courboulay
Rue Paul Courboulay
72100 Le Mans
France
http://www.photographiques.org/

http://www.delphineblast.com/

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