Street workers and stray dogs: the film noir world of Fernell Franco – in pictures
His job as a bike courier took Fernell Franco from the drug dealers on the corner to backstreet billiard rooms and the red light district. His shadowy photographs provide a vampiric portrait of his hometown of Cali, Colombia
• Cali Clair-Obscur: Fernell Franco is at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, 6 February to 5 June
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Friends Series, 1970
Fernell Franco began taking photographs in the Colombian city of Cali in the early 1970s, when artists and filmmakers shared street corners with drug cartels. -
Portraits of The City, 1994
He was fascinated with the town’s shadowlands and used light and dark to highlight the gap between rich and poor. -
Bicycles Series, 1975
His first job as a bicycle messenger for a photo lab took him into every corner of the tropical Colombian city. -
Prostitutes Series, 1970-1972
Having immersed himself in Cali’s salsa-infused nightlife, he went on to document its red-light district. -
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Billiards Series, 1985
The light falling on the baize in this shot gives this backstreet game of billiards a smoky atmosphere. -
Prostitutes Series, 1970-72 (photomontage)
Franco avoided using chemicals to fix his photographs, tearing up images to create collages, such as this portrait of a sex-worker. -
Interiors Series, 1978
Franco was drawn to the decaying grandeur of Cali’s crumbling buildings, as with this grand sweeping staircase. -
Pacific Series, 1987
He was on obsessive cinema-goer and his photographs are shot through with his love of film noir. -
