Mads Nissen's photograph of a boy clowning in Colombian cocaine corridor

Mads Nissen recounts his iconic 2017 photograph of nine-year-old Didiller clowning on a basketball court in a Colombian cocaine corridor. The image was part of Nissen's documentation of the aftermath of Colombia's civil war and internal displacement. Nissen, a Danish photographer, first traveled to Colombia in 2016 commissioned by the Nobel Peace Center to cover the peace process. He later returned to the area but could not find Didiller; someone told him the boy had been killed. Nissen's passion for photography began at age 19 while studying Spanish and volunteering in Venezuela, where he realized the medium could advance his social and political values.