The beginnings of the Social Photography Workshops in Peru
Between 1986 and 1998, more than 200 photographers from different regions of Peru were responsible for recording the country's material, social, and political conditions.
By Pontifical Catholic University of Peru
Ángel Enrique Colunge Rosales
Project initiation
The Social Photography Workshops (TAFOS) project began in 1986 in Ocongate, Cusco, and in the El Agustino district of Lima. These first two workshops were made possible thanks to the initiative of German citizens Thomas Müller and Helga Müller-Herbon.
Fotolibro TAFOS en FormaciónPontifical Catholic University of Peru
Production: 2022-2023
The initiative was soon replicated in the Guamán Poma district of Cusco and Ayaviri in Puno. The workshops consisted of providing cameras to organized members of civil society, such as unions, rural communities, and student federations.
Fotolibro TAFOS en FormaciónPontifical Catholic University of Peru
Training as a semantic core concept
In 2021, in the PUCP Vice-Rectorate for Research's annual project competition, funding was obtained for the production of a photobook that would bring together a selection of photographs from those first four workshops.
TAFOS en formación
The photobook project underwent a research process during 2022, and fieldwork was conducted in 2023 with a selection of the photographers who participated in the initial workshops.
Fotolibro TAFOS en FormaciónPontifical Catholic University of Peru
Towards a philosophy of editorial design
The TAFOS en Formación photo book was created within the theoretical framework of chiasmus, proposed by Maurice Merleau-Ponty, which permeates every stage of its development, from the conceptualization to the participatory methodology and the design strategies implemented.
Imaginal chiasm
The concept of "imaginal chiasmus" is an adaptation of the chiasmus principle to the field of editorial design, understood as the overlapping, intertwining, and cross-referencing of experiences, perspectives, and testimonies around the images from the four workshops mentioned earlier.
Short documentary
As part of the research and creative project, the documentary "TAFOS en formación" (2024) was produced, featuring testimonials from a selection of photographers who participated in the project, as well as footage documenting the photo elicitation sessions.
Fotolibro TAFOS en FormaciónPontifical Catholic University of Peru
Participatory deconstruction
This research and creative project is based on the belief that participatory and/or collaborative methodologies often maintain a hierarchical structure between participants/collaborators and the research team, even when horizontal approaches are intended.
Testimony, archives, and photography
The photobook is an iteration of the many possible versions resulting from the combination of images selected by the photographers. Three elements intersect in these iterations: the personal narratives, the relevance of the archive, and the content of the photographs.
Photographic Archive of the Faculty of Communication Sciences and Arts at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru
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