Qosqo, entre el pasado y el presente: Photography in Cusco 1895-1945

Qosqo, entre el pasado y el presente: Photography in Cusco 1895 - 1945, is a portrait of a city and a culture at the dawn of the modern era, drawn from the work of nine photographers who lived in the Cusco region. Subjects range from Inca sites to romanticized evocations of Peru’s indigenous past; representations of power and authority, race, class, labor and gender, technological advances, and resistance to societal conventions. The exhibition, co-curated by Adelma Benavente García and Peter Yenne, features fifty-four digital prints made from glass plate negatives in institutional archives and small private collections. The exhibition also includes fifteen vintage gelatin silver prints by the most famous photographer of the group, Martín Chambi, and a painted backdrop circa 1895 from the studio of Miguel Chani. Socially, racially and geographically, the nine photographers represent a subtle cross-section of life in the southern highlands of Peru. Their varied techniques, subject matter and artistic personalities offer us a rare insight into the complex heritage that shaped them and the exuberantly hybrid world they depicted.

The museum is deeply indebted to Fototeca Andina and the Familia Figueroa Yábar for their essential contributions to the exhibition. 

Additional Material

Gallery Tour: Qosqo, entre el pasado y el presente: Photography in Cusco 1895 - 1945

The Meanings of Portrait Photography in the Andes, 1900 - 1950