Jaime Travezan and Morgana Vargas Llosa: Mirame, Lima

Artist’s Statement:

Mírame, Lima is a collaborative project between photographers Jaime Travezan and Morgana Vargas Llosa with art director David Tortora.
Mírame, Lima is a series of 50 family portraits aiming to reflect the cultural, ethnical, religious diversities present within the Peruvian capital.
Partly as a result of insecurity, street violence, lack of information, among other things, people in Lima tend to live very isolated from each other, in small groups from which they rarely emerge. With this project we would like to help to get to know each other better, to encourage integration and respect between citizens and to do so with a positive, optimistic tone in order to avoid conflict and controversy. We believe in the necessity to open a dialogue and to awake curiosity within people about each other’s diversity. The project is an invitation to explore without prejudice and stroll ourselves through a plural city, whose houses and streets are a mirror of the entire world.

The families portrayed are anonymous. They could be distant relatives, our childhood’s neighbours, the chinese restaurant’s owner, the local tailor or the fashion designer. Anyone of us could be included. All of these families opened their house to get us to know them. They picked their favourite objects and, as if in a theatre play, they performed their own lives: who they are, what do they dream and in what they believe. In many cases families extended, embracing new members: working partners, friends or pupils.

Artist’s Bio:

London, UK / Lima, Peru

Jaime Travezan started his photography career as a photojournalist, later adding to his interests fashion and portraiture. As a reporter he covered subjects such as the Kosovo war and the state of children undergoing chemotherapy in peruvian hospitals.He was awarded Photographer Of The Year 2012 in the categories of Studio, Fashion and Beauty by british magazine, Professional Photographer.

Morgana Vargas Llosa has worked as a photojournalist since 1996. Her projects have included reportages from Ecuador, Albania , Kosovo and Israel/Palestina where she covered the retreat of Israeli troupes from Gaza. With her NGO “Desvela”, she tries to bring to light social issues in need of wider promotion, within her homecountry, Peru.

David Tortora is an art director and designer. Educated as an architect in Italy, he continued his studies in the UK, specialising in the design for interactive media. Working for several years within the art and fashion industry, his interest has gradually focused on photography.