Fashion is one way the Andean women of Peru’s Valle Sagrado region retain cultural traditions. In Donde Florecen Estas Flores, or Where These Flowers Bloom, Ana Flores returns to her native Cusco to photograph their timeless style and better connect with her own heritage.
Born to a Peruvian mother and a Swiss father, Flores spent much of her childhood disconnected from her Indigenous heritage. “Growing up, I was taught to strive for white European superiority, without questioning the vestiges of colonialism,” she shares.
As an adult, Flores renewed ties with her birthplace and traveled to Cusco repeatedly to photograph those living in the region. “I established a connection with a local research centre that works closely with various Indigenous women-led craft collectives,” she said. “It was crucial for me to revisit this area to begin building the foundations for a trusting and long-lasting relationship with the women involved in this project.”
Shot in film, the photographs in Donde Florecen Estas Flores meld Flores’s background in fashion photography with her keen interest in exploring the ways places shape us. She collaborated with Peruvian art director Lia Lazaro and assistants Guillermo Orihuela and Cayetano García Sahurie to create a series not unlike the spreads in fashion magazines. In her photos, women wear garments like handmade pleated skirts known as polleras, slips underneath, and simple sandals called ojotas in both traditional and novel ways, all set against the magnificent natural beauty of the highlands.
“I aim to create positive and powerful images which shift the stereotypical representation of Indigenous women from marginalised and passive, to celebrating them as dynamic and fundamental aspects of culture,” she says.
Flores is currently based in London and plans to travel to Peru to continue the project in the coming months. Find more of her work on Instagram. (via It’s Nice That)
