540 people inhabit an island the size of two soccer fields. This photography series by Colombian photographer Charlie Cordero takes us to one of the most densely populated islands on the planet. There’s no water, no cops, no priests or doctors, neither armed conflict. There are 97 houses in which 18 families live. A school. A restaurant that works as a port. And a small square with a cross in the middle that give  the island name: Santa Cruz del Islote. From the life of the islanders, their interactions and problems, we discover the awakening of this community in a struggle for territory. This project reflects on the role of man as an inhabitant of a society, making this island a metaphor for our world.

Off Colombia’s Caribbean coast, two hours from Cartagena, sits a dot of an island, just over two acres big and barely noted on maps. Until a few generations ago, it was uninhabited, a rest stop for fishermen lured to its shores by the simple promise of solid ground.

Then some decided to stay. A few more joined them. And so on until Santa Cruz del Islote became what it is today: the most densely-populated island on earth. That’s what attracted Charlie Cordero, a documentary photographer from Barranquilla, just as it draws tourists from all over the world. Everyone wants to see what it’s like for 1,200 people to live on a patch of land four times as dense as Manhattan, with no services – no running water, sewer system, police, hospital, trash pickup.