By "Foto Estudio Lozano"

Manuel Lozano was the only photographer in his small town in the Peruvian Andes in the late nineties. For almost twenty years he captured with his camera all the circumstances that occurred in his community.

In 2016 I was walking through the streets of a small town called San Miguel de Pallaques, in Cajamarca, in the Peruvian Andes. A few meters from the center of town, there was a sign that said “Foto Estudio Lozano.” I entered and had my first physical contact with the photographer: Manuel Lozano Gil. He waited for his clients at his desk in his photography studio ready to capture them with his rudimentary materials. The studio continues to be the breadwinner of the family. Neighbors also turned to him to hire his photography services for any family or public situation that happened in the town. He is known to have used a 35mm camera with color film in the early 2000s. These rolls were developed in the coastal town of Chiclayo, which is an 8-hour drive from his town. When they returned the photographs to their studio, they only sent the printed photographs but not the rolls. The photographic copies that his clients rejected or simply forgot, Mr. Lozano kept them in a sugar sack in very poor condition. The sack with approximately 1,000 printed photographs were acquired by me because I felt that more than a photographic act of mere financial support, there was also a decade of history that was being discarded.

I have been looking at all of his photographs over and over again for eight years. I feel like a detective going through their files in case I find something new in my search. Evidently, Mr. Lozano never received visual education in any specialized institution. I feel that the images I selected are a kind of sparks of "visual certainties".

On the other hand, there is the certainty that mainly his photographic act was his way of surviving economically; However, being present in all the circumstances that happened in their town (which are not necessarily due to economic work), makes me wonder many other things.

At this point is where I reflect on whether I am correct in the assumptions I have when seeing Mr. Lozano's images. Which is actually very confusing. For example, I have found evidence of images of women being abused in the face, but I have also found an equal number of images of men being abused in the face. I couldn't understand which extreme of sexism he was leaning towards.

The selection of images that I have made for this presentation is an attempt at narrative from my perspective and perhaps it is not the intention of what the photographer wanted to communicate or perhaps there are no other intentions than that of a work only for profit.

Mr. Manuel Lozano Gil, died at the age of 59 in 2020 due to Covid-19.