In mid-20th century Peru, despite gender equality advancements, women artists were largely dismissed as hobbyists or amateurs,¹ their work rendered invisible.² In southern Peru in particular, the history of women in the visual arts reveals a stark absence of recognition, as the male-dominated art system of the time systematically marginalised their contributions.³ This has made it difficult today to uncover details about their lives and contributions. Here, I present the case study of my great-aunt and her archives: Julia Chambi López (1919–2003), Peru’s first woman photographer of Indigenous (Quechua) descent.⁴

Unknown author, Julia Chambi, photographer, Cusco, Peru, ca. 1950s, Printed photograph, 10×15 cm, María Isabel Chacón Chambi Collection

Julia Chambi López, Untitled, Cusco, Peru, ca. 1960s, Digitized color slide

Julia Chambi López, Untitled, Cusco, Peru, ca. 1960s, Digitized color slide

J. Chambi López was born in Sicuani (Cusco, Peru) to Manuela López and Martín Chambi Jiménez (1891–1973), one of the first major Indigenous Latin American photographers. From an early age, she worked in her father’s studio, developing her craft and later establishing herself as a photojournalist for various publications while building her own portfolio. Beyond her photographic work, J. Chambi López was a dedicated cultural activist who played a vital role in promoting art from and within Cusco. Her commitment culminated in her appointment as Cusco’s city councillor for culture in 1974. She also took over the directorship of the Chambi studio in the 1970s, overseeing both its commercial operations and the preservation of her father’s vast archive of over 40,000 photographs.

J. Chambi López’s photographic career spanned an impressive 63 years, from 1940 to 2003, encompassing documentary, social and artistic photography, as well as photojournalism and commissioned work. She also curated a significant collection of hand-tinted photographic portraits. Her work meticulously documented Quechua cultural traditions and clothing, as well as the region’s archaeological sites, urban architecture and social events. To achieve this, she travelled extensively throughout the departments of Cusco, Arequipa and Puno, as well as the cities of Ayacucho, Iquitos and Lima. Between 1960 and 1970, she expanded her photographic reach to Buenos Aires and La Paz. In the following two decades, she visited Bogotá, Madrid, Barcelona and Paris, both to exhibit her father’s work and to continue her own documentary photography. Until just months before her passing in 2003 at the age of 84, she remained a tireless advocate for photography, Andean arts and her father’s and community’s heritage.

Photographs from the Julia Chambi López Archive, Cusco, Peru, 2024, © photo: Claudia Holgado Chacón

Photographs from the Julia Chambi López Archive, Cusco, Peru, 2024, © photo: Claudia Holgado Chacón

Photographs from the Julia Chambi López Archive, Cusco, Peru, 2024, © photo: Claudia Holgado Chacón

Photographs from the Julia Chambi López Archive, Cusco, Peru, 2024, © photo: Claudia Holgado Chacón

J. Chambi López’s personal archive – comprising more than 36,000 photographs – was then entrusted to her closest family members. For over two decades, her sister Mery Chambi López and her niece (my mother) María Isabel Chacón Chambi have carefully preserved her images, documents and memorabilia, along with the invaluable knowledge of photography and archival management that she had amassed over the years. J. Chambi López, whose presence I remember from my earliest childhood, is a role model to me not only for her passion for photography but also for her dedication to preserving our family’s legacy. To honour her memory, I proposed to my mother and grandmother that we create a project to safeguard her archives and share her life story. The family embraced this idea with emotion, committed to keeping her contributions alive.

In Latin America, and Peru in particular, limited funding and resources are allocated to the conservation of photographic heritage and visual arts research. As a result, the Julia Chambi López Archive was launched on an empirical and intuitive basis, entirely managed by our family. The first step was to delve deeper into her life story by conducting interviews with my closest relatives and with her friends. Using these accounts, I wrote the first lines of her very first biography. I then began giving talks in various photographic education programs, sharing the  findings of my research. Unexpectedly, these presentations connected me with individuals eager to support our efforts, offering expertise in cultural management and archival conservation. With their guidance and as a result of my own academic studies,⁵ I sketched out a project structured around three core objectives: preserving, researching and promoting J. Chambi López’s life and archives. While the primary goal remains the conservation of her photographs – many of which are on cellulose acetate-based film, a material prone to deterioration – ongoing research and outreach efforts are equally essential to securing the long-term sustainability of the project, both culturally and financially.

Unable to raise the necessary funds for the physical preservation of the archive, we turned to filmmaking-support organisations to finance a biographical documentary. With the support of film director Andrea Quiroz, we secured funding in 2023 from Peru’s Ministry of Culture (Estímulos para el Desarrollo Audiovisual) and won the annual creative project award from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (Concurso Anual de Proyectos de Creación PUCP). This support allowed us to produce and direct, in 2023, the 35-minute documentary Julia se revela⁶ (a title that plays on the dual meaning of se revela – both “revealing herself” and “developing film stock”). It also enabled us to continue our documentary research, and  create a preliminary inventory and assess the archival materials – an essential first step before undertaking any conservation work. In the same year, I presented our research at the symposium On the Edge of Visibility, organised by AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions, and Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA) in partnership with the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). This presentation led to my receiving the WOPHA Research Grant in early 2024, which has provided essential support for further biographical research and the acquisition of photo conservation equipment and materials to continue the inventory and diagnostic process.

Side-by-side comparison of a restored slide from the Julia Chambi López Archive, 2024

Photographs of the preservation work of the Julia Chambi López Archive, Cusco, Peru, 2024, © photo: Manuel Galindo

Exhibition view, Julia Chambi López, Museo Machu Picchu – Casa Concha in Cusco, December 2024 – February 2025

Exhibition view, Julia Chambi López, Museo Machu Picchu – Casa Concha in Cusco, December 2024 – February 2025

Exhibition view, Julia Chambi López, Museo Machu Picchu – Casa Concha in Cusco, December 2024 – February 2025

Exhibition view, Julia Chambi López, Museo Machu Picchu – Casa Concha in Cusco, December 2024 – February 2025

Exhibition view, Julia Chambi López, Museo Machu Picchu – Casa Concha in Cusco, December 2024 – February 2025

The inventory and diagnostic process confirmed that J. Chambi López’s archive consists of approximately 36,000 photographs, organised into nine distinct categories: colour slides (1950–1990); medium-format (6×6 cm) black-and-white negatives (1960–1980); 35 mm colour negatives (1980–1990); black-and-white prints of various sizes (1940–1990); printed photographs (1970–1990); hand-tinted photographs (1950–1970); photo albums; and textual documents, including notes, exhibition catalogues, letters and more. This assessment also concluded that while most of the photographic materials remain undamaged, they require specialised cleaning to remove dust and potential biological residues caused by temperature fluctuations and storage conditions. Additionally, the protective cases for the negatives, now over sixty years old and not acid-free, need to be replaced to prevent further deterioration. In 2024, the team responsible for this preservation effort includes two anthropologists, a professional archivist and members of the Chambi López family who are actively involved in the project. Based on the evaluation, we developed a structured preservation protocol consisting of five key stages: 1) diagnosis and inventory of each collection; 2) ongoing training for the preservation team; 3) cleaning and stabilisation of the photographs; 4) digitisation of the collection; and 5) cataloguing the photographs and replacing outdated storage materials. This systematic approach will ensure that J. Chambi López’s archive will be safeguarded while remaining accessible for research and public engagement. Thanks to the support of Argentinian researcher Julieta Pestarino, we received the Visual Art Grant from the Goethe-Institut in Germany in January 2024. This funding allowed us to begin the conservation of J. Chambi López’s colour slide collection. With this support, we were able to acquire specialised preservation and storage materials for the slides and fund a training programme focused on cleaning techniques. To date, we have successfully treated 300 slides, marking an important step in preserving this invaluable part of J. Chambi López’s work. Finally, we curated a monographic exhibition in her honor at the Museo Machu Picchu – Casa Concha in Cusco, from December 2024 to February 2025. It showcased over 150 photographs and was complemented by bilingual texts in Spanish and Quechua.

However, our work is far from complete. We are still in the process of restoring the remaining slides and actively seeking funding to support the conservation of the archive’s other photographic collections. Preserving J. Chambi López’s work and memory is not only essential – it is fundamental to the reconstruction of the history of Peruvian women in art and culture. As the current steward of her archives, I am deeply committed to continuing this work so that future generations can discover her vision and find inspiration in her remarkable story.