Foto Estudio Luisita

"For the Escarrias-petite sisters of African descent born ten months apart in Cali, Colombia-commercial photography was in their family DNA. Their parents established a studio in their hometown that was overseen by their mother after their father's early demise. The siblings learned the family trade, and when they fled the country's civil war in 1958, they quickly reestablished the studio in Buenos Aires."

"At the studio, Luisa directed the models and pulled the camera's trigger while Chela hand-retouched the negatives to make everything look more real than real (she once suggested she should have been a plastic surgeon). They ran their business this way for more than fifty years."

"Their subjects, entertainers Luisa admiringly described as 'monsters of fame,' were celebrities of the local, regional, and national kind. Sporting chandelier and feather headdresses, sequined bikinis, and come-hither heels were singers, actors, and dancers such as Amelita Vargas (the Queen of Mambo), Ambar La Fox, Mimi Pons, Beba Granados, and Gogó Rojo: Buenos Aires Barbarellas, all."

Luisa and Chela Escarria, sisters of African descent born in Cali, Colombia, inherited commercial photography from their family. After fleeing civil war in 1958, they established Foto Estudio Luisita in Buenos Aires, where they became celebrated for their striking portraits of entertainers. Luisa directed models and operated the camera while Chela meticulously hand-retouched negatives to enhance reality. Their subjects—singers, actors, and dancers from Buenos Aires' nighttime musical revues—displayed remarkable confidence and audacity in their poses. The sisters' collaborative approach and technical mastery created portraits of local and national celebrities that captured an era of performance and glamour.

Read at Artforum