Expressing emotion through visual arts is something Erika Diettes excels at.

“I’m a visual artist and I use photography as my primary means of expression,” said Diettes, a photographer that resides in Bogota, Colombia.

Diettes has published photographic books such as Silencios(Silence), interviewing Holocaust survivors and photographing their numbers that were stamped on their wrists. She has published other works such as Sudarios, which revealed the emotional mothers whose young sons were kidnapped by the guerillas.

“My images are intended to be exhibited in a museum, gallery or some other space such as a church or theater,” Diettes said. “Images are constructed and planned in a controlled lighting situation to set a mood.”

Diettes’s interest in photography began when her father was transferred to Washington D.C. as the police attaché for the Colombian Embassy. She enrolled in McLean High School, not knowing any English, and took classes that didn’t involve English as much.

“For some reason, even without language, I felt that photography was my universe,” Diettes said. She took photography as an elective at the school. “The first time I entered a darkroom I knew I belonged there.”

“It was the most important and decisive semester of my life. I basically clicked with a talent I didn’t know I had,” Diettes said.

Diettes took several photography courses and studied visual arts and communications in college.

“Learning photography is the same as being an athlete,” Diettes said. “You have to practice a lot, learn to use a camera, and decide how to compose the picture. All these are decisions you have to make before you make an image which requires a lot of practice, study and talent.

“In my career, I have learned to reach out to different types of communities and listen to very painful stories. I discover strength and hope in these stories and convert them into an image for the public to learn about the violence that otherwise would be forgotten.”

Diettes studies about the violence in Colombia to develop a better understanding in her photos on the topic.

“It is not simple to take the camera and shoot photos of whatever is in front of me, it is about knowing and understanding the topic of which a photographer is taking pictures of,” Diettes said.

Diettes has a busy work schedule every week.

“I travel to places in Colombia to meet and talk with people about the violence they have witnessed and experienced,” Diettes said. “Other days I spend time making sculptures. At the end of the work week, I return home to Bogota to edit and print my photos that I make on my trip.”

The parents of Diettes are whom she considers her primary inspiration.

“They encouraged me and supported me in everything one needs in a photography career,” Diettes said. “They bought the equipment I needed; made it possible to attend the classes I wanted and accompany me when I take pictures.”

“In my exhibit of Sudarios in Houston, a woman approached me when we were mounting the exhibit and told me even though she didn’t know anything about the work, nor what was the reason she felt sad looking at the image.”  “She showed me one of the pictures of my exhibit and began to cry. That moment was very special for me because a good work of art produces a viewer reaction that overcomes cultural and language barriers.

The most important thing about the image I am capturing tells the story, and that it is an image worth preserving forever,” Diettes said. “From the moment I discovered photography, I made the decision that this would be my career.”

To see more of Erika Diettes’s work, go to http://erikadiettes.com/