Before the War is a fragmented story, in which what is seen or read is never fully complete, formally reiterating Cartagena's frenetic photographic search for an origin of the evil that seems to haunt the region yet never appears as a singular event. Cartagena and editor Fernando Gallegos have thoughtfully sequenced an archive of individual histories, which fade in and out of a landscape that itself becomes a central character; and, in which it is difficult to tell what may represent good, and what evil. The book exemplifies the innovative spirit of current photobook production, as well as the ability of the photograph to capture what at times cannot be seen