Dominic Bracco, the Tim Hetherington Trust Visionary Award winner: "I saw people I love do horrific things"

“I prefer to hanging out with people for long periods of time, until I care about them and they care about me,” says Bracco. “Unless [the work] is a ‘collaboration’, it doesn’t feel comfortable.”
There is a rhythm and narrative to ‘The Backs of Men’, the series that won him the Visionary award, passing through landscapes and images of daily family life, eventually culminating into a crescendo of the cries of despair for the lives lost.
In one photograph, a stream of burning red blood, still wet, flows down a road before collecting in the gutter among fallen leaves. It’s the fresh blood from the bodies of two brothers and their friend in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

The blood of two brothers and their friend in San Pedro Sula.
The blood of two brothers and their friend in San Pedro Sula.
Passing a limp corpse in the road, or having a close friend murdered, is not uncommon, Bracco says. He, like the society around him, has become desensitised to even the most brutal crimes. It has become part of his daily life, the relations he holds most dear; Bracco is godfather to the son of a young man involved in a homicide.
“You become hyper alert and paranoid,” says Bracco. “But to survive in this space, you have to normalise what is happening. It’s like your biological response to this tragedy. To me, it’s the most terrifying aspect of it.”
A pregnant woman and her boyfriend, seemingly sleeping in a car, are basked in a dim glow from a lamp outside the window. But the subtle crimson ribbon of blood leaking from her ear signifies that this car seat is their final place of rest.
Jorge and Emilia watch planes take off from the Tegucigalpa airport.
Jorge and Emilia watch planes take off from the Tegucigalpa airport.
“I saw people I love do horrific things, but that doesn’t change the way I feel about them,” he says. “It’s a troubling contradiction. It puts you in this funny grey area where you can’t take a hard stance on anything.”
Yet, just as he felt compassion towards the drug-addicted lovers, the fierce spirit of the people living in desperation captivates him. War and conflict, he says, have the ability to bring out two entirely contrasting sides of raw humanity, side by side.
“You see violence like you could never imagine,” says Bracco. “At the same time, you find the kindest people in the world, who go out of your way to help you and make you feel welcome.”
13 © Bracco republic15
Whilst on assignment in 2008, Bracco met a Honduran woman on the south Texan border who had trekked across the desert to escape, but had stumbled straight into the hands of border patrol. To this day, the photographer feels an overwhelming sense of guilt at not being able to help her.
This encounter triggered the start of the second chapter to Bracco’s work; an insight into the social unrest in the killing fields of Honduras, passing through various cities including San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa.
Bracco explains that although his work consistently addresses the way in which young people deal with issues of civil conflict and migration in Central America, it is important that the photography illustrating each place retains a unique aesthetic.
10 © Bracco republic07
“It’s always important for me that every project looks distinct,” he says. “I’m interested in pictures that tell a story but can also be interpreted in different ways by different people.”
The trilogy concludes in his home in South Texas. Bracco incorporates Polaroid images of his family, some starkly over-exposed, with personalised captions describing every-day life.
“It was a way to acknowledge that we are also part of the population that exists in this space,”  Bracco says. “That all the things are happening but we continue our daily lives as if they weren’t.”
The light and serenity in these images bring a balance to the series. Indeed, despite always striving to take honest and intimate pictures, Bracco worries his stories could be used to fuel the negative attitude towards Central American refugees. The very attitudes, he says, he is actively trying to counteract.
Family and friends gather around the body of 15-year-old Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca, who was killed on by a Border Patrol agent. According to eye witnesses the shooting occurred after Guereca helped guide several other teenagers into the United States when they were spotted and retreated back to Mexico. One of their group was detained by the U.S. Border Patrol and at least one of the boys threw a rock from the Mexican border into the United States toward the Border Patrol agent upon which he returned fire at the group, firing several rounds, and hitting Guereca in the head. The killing sparked much controversy over the use of force across international borders and sat uneasy in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico where thousands of killings have happened as a result of the insecurity caused by the war on drugs. There are still many questions unanswered about what exactly happened on June 7th near the international bridge as there are conflicting reports from the agent and eye witnesses. The border patrol agent continues to work and the family is seeking legal action. The family denies accusations that the 15-year-old boy was involved in illegal activity, however U.S. authorities and interviews with classmates suggest that he was involved in human smuggling.
Family and friends gather around the body of 15-year-old Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca, who was killed on by a Border Patrol agent. According to eye witnesses the shooting occurred after Guereca helped guide several other teenagers into the United States when they were spotted and retreated back to Mexico. One of their group was detained by the U.S. Border Patrol and at least one of the boys threw a rock from the Mexican border into the United States toward the Border Patrol agent upon which he returned fire at the group, firing several rounds, and hitting Guereca in the head. The killing sparked much controversy over the use of force across international borders and sat uneasy in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico where thousands of killings have happened as a result of the insecurity caused by the war on drugs. There are still many questions unanswered about what exactly happened on June 7th near the international bridge as there are conflicting reports from the agent and eye witnesses. The border patrol agent continues to work and the family is seeking legal action. The family denies accusations that the 15-year-old boy was involved in illegal activity, however U.S. authorities and interviews with classmates suggest that he was involved in human smuggling.
Izabela Radwanska Zhang

Starting out as an intern back in 2016, Izabela Radwanska Zhang is now the Editorial Director of British Journal of Photography in print and online. Her words have appeared in Disegno and Press Association. Prior to this, she completed a MA in Magazine Journalism at City University, London, and most recently, a Postgrad Certificate in Graphic Design at London College of Communication.