After undergoing emergency surgery following an accident, the photographer discovered a newfound appreciation for the human body

Three years ago, Jorge Perez Ortiz was on a small wooden boat travelling from Cartagena in Colombia to a group of nearby islands when the sea became unexpectedly rough. As a strong wave hit, Ortiz, sitting at the bow, felt his body lift and come down sharply on his seat. The sudden impact fractured a vertebra. He was taken to hospital and underwent emergency surgery.

“I’ve always been captivated by the power of water and the sense of freedom and escape one feels when diving into it,” Ortiz says, “but until that point, I’d never considered the other side of this freedom and the risks it carries.”

Gabrielle Goliath says Gayton McKenzie violating freedom of expression after ‘highly divisive’ artwork Elergy banned from SA pavilion

A South African artist is suing the arts minister after he blocked her from representing the country at the Venice Biennale, having called her work addressing Israel’s killing of Palestinians in Gaza “highly divisive”.

Gabrielle Goliath filed the lawsuit last week, with Ingrid Masondo, who would have curated the pavilion, and the studio manager, James Macdonald. It accuses Gayton McKenzie of acting unlawfully and violating the right to freedom of expression and demands the high court reinstates her participation by 18 February, the deadline for confirming installations with biennale organisers.