Interview with Lissette Lemus, the Salvadoran winning photojournalist by the World Press Photo

José Manuel Ortiz Benitez

I do not know her, rather did not know her until now, but this woman must have something special in her guts besides her temperament and skill with the camera.

She started kicking in this profession, normally dominated by males, nearly 10 years ago and now this good woman, of curly hairs and oriental looks, not only has managed to excel in this tough and exciting profession, but has become the reference of photojournalism in the region.

She says that what was in her work agenda that quiet morning of October 15, 2008, was the mission of a few snapshots of schoolchildren in a small school in Ilopongo (El Salvador), typical images in which you are asked to show the happiness, the innocence and the coexistence of the children in the playground, the dedication and zeal of the teachers in the classroom, for a report on teaching and education in her country.

The result of that job that morning was quite different from the happiness originally sought in the faces of the school children.

After watching the terrifying result of her shot that day, magnified in the plasma of her computer, this brave photojournalist confesses that she went on several nights without sleeping.

Sleepless photojournalist, she had enough cause, the picture, she took, carries a nightmare in itself that goes beyond her profession. It is a tough to swallow visual framework perfectly captured in a sober moment, austere, tragic, glum, which projects a larger image that stirs intestines and consciences alike and, ultimately, serve as a graphic political statement that denounces solemnly the national tragedy and grief that the Salvadoran people suffers every day in this tiny central american country.

The full light of the hard noon only adds more sharpness and contrast to the tragic scene, which is already extraordinarily shocking.

I do not know what part of the image terrifies more, the woman lying on the arid asphalt with a pool of blood gushing from her head, or that mixture of perplexity and autism drawn on the faces of the children of the minibus.

I leave you with a short interview I did, on Saturday February 14 2009, to Lissette Lemus, the award-winning photojournalist from El Salvador by the World Press Photo Foundation.
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Do you know that your name and image have been around the world in major news networks and international newspapers. How does it feel?

I am very pleased that the work of a photojournalist in El Salvador is recognized in one of the biggest competitions in photography. Besides trying to show a reality, I wish, from this profession, to raise awareness about the problem of violence in my country.

You are fighting in the world arena, with the monsters of communication such as the New York Times, CNN, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Time Magazine, etc.. How have you achieved that?

This competition has the advantage of being open to all photojournalists in the world, and I think that being there is an achievement that I was following in the footsteps of a vocation for which I am proud.

For a journalist, this kind of recognition can open many doors to the international media. Would you consider a job in the big ones such CNN, the Washington Post or the New York Times if it the opportunity comes?

Actually, I have not had a chance to sit down and think about that.

The image is cruel, overwhelming. As the author, what does the image suggest to you?

After taking that picture for many days I spent time thinking about the value of life, the psychological impact that the scene may have caused to the children riding in the minibus.

On average, in El Salvador, are now killed 12 people a day. What does that terrible image of our national violence tells you?

It is the reality that many people live in our country in our everyday life.

Do you think the Government of El Salvador is doing everything it can to eradicate or reduce the levels of violence in the country?

I believe that not only is the responsibility of government is also a shared responsibility of all Salvadorans.

*Member of Salvadorans in the World

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