on location is FIXER’s MAGAZINE section dedicated to highlight Venezuelan photographers working on a life assignment far from home. migration is a Venezuelan reality embraced from many different reasons and through many different processes, but with one thing in common for every venezuelan: the feeling of displacement.
we focus here on photography that has nurtured from leaving behind life as expected and faced new realities. the use of gray as this section’s color is an analogy to all of those shades of gray we’ve had to make ours while facing new environments.
ALEJANDRO COUTINHO
BARQUISIMETO, venezuela —> LISBON, PORTUGAL
How was your artistic journey from barquisimeto
to lisbon
and how portugal HAS shaped your photographic voice?
Like almost any journey—especially one of this nature—this process has been one of constant discovery and adaptation.Coming from Barquisimeto, I feel I brought a clear purpose and vision of the kind of photography I wanted to create. That vision has naturally been enriched by the experience of emigrating at 45 and by the opportunity to collaborate with people from different countries and cultures, particularly within the world of Dance. My images already carried a strong sense of melancholy back in Barquisimeto, and Lisbon is a city with a deeply nostalgic atmosphere. "Saudade" is a beautiful and widely used Portuguese word that captures those exact feelings of nostalgia and longing; it is deeply woven into its music,its fado, its literature, its streets, and even its food. Perhaps Lisbon has simply given me richer raw material, imbued with that beautiful feeling of saudade (well managed, of course), to express and depict my own.
Do you see elements of your Venezuelan roots
in the way you frame the world today?
Due to family, educational, and social factors—and like many in Venezuela—I was always a bit closer to a European worldview. From a young age, my imagination was genuinely nourished by a strong European influence. Of course, that was strictly within the realm of my imagination; we all know that as Venezuelans, we definitively have a bit of everything—we are a mixture. However, when it comes to my Venezuelan roots, I feel that influence is reflected more in how I work, problem-solve, and navigate challenges. I believe we Venezuelans learned through practice to see fewer obstacles and find more possibilities when taking on a project, whether personal or commissioned.
Looking back TO YOUR TIME IN CIECA,
what is the biggest lesson you carry with you in your professional work today?
Repeat, repeat, and repeat until achieving the desired result—which often, beyond what was originally planned, turns out to be a moment of serendipity. And above all, ensuring that curiosity never goes to sleep.
what would you tell your younger
self when you first picked up a camera?
Honestly, to that self who picked up a professional camera for the very first time purely by chance at age 35, while working as a practicing lawyer, I would say: "You have no idea how much your life is about to change in each and every possible way. Welcome!"
Alejandro
Coutinho
BARQUISIMETO, venezuela —> LISBON, PORTUGAL
Alejandro Coutinho is a visual artist, photographer, and educator whose work lies at the intersection of movement studies and classical painterly aesthetics. Formally trained at CIECA (Venezuela), his career bridges fine art creation with a solid academic foundation, having served as a photography professor at Universidad Fermín Toro (Barquisimeto,Venezuela) and at the very institution where he began his training.
Currently based in Lisbon, Alejandro Coutinho has established a distinctive visual voice within dance and portrait photography. His deep understanding of ballet technique allows him to precisely interpret the choreography of movement,tailoring composition and aesthetic standards to the technical execution of each performer, with a special sensitivity toward emerging dancers. This technical precision and devotion to form extend seamlessly to his commercial, culinary,and product photography, where light and composition are always treated with artistic rigor.
At present, his practice is evolving toward a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates painting as a natural extension of his ongoing research into beauty, composition, light, and emotion. His work has been featured in several exhibitions,most notably Belleza Antinatura (2018), Musas (2019), and his most recent showcase in the Portuguese capital, De Musas y Poemas (2024). Through his practice, Alejandro Coutinho reaffirms a steadfast commitment to aesthetic excellence and high-impact visual narrative.
