Ana Flores sees photography as “an essential tool” to explore her Peruvian roots

Born in Peru and raised in Switzerland, Ana Flores is a London-based photographer dedicating her practice to projects inspired by her cultural heritage. Rediscovering Peru through her own lens, the artist is making beautiful portraits of the people of her homeland that blur the lines between fashion and documentary photography. Some of which you may have come across on the cover of the first issue of Mola: the digital platform uplifting the Global South.

In her recent series Donde Florecen Estas Flores (Where These Flowers Bloom) the photographer makes tribute to the Andean women of her birthplace: Cusco, with a focus on the subtle details of their traditional dress. In highland sets with “natural light and simple surroundings” Ana aims to “create an empowering space for her subjects”, capturing the way that they uphold their heritage through fashion. “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 shares. Shot on film, the development of Ana’s images is what really brings her rich visual stories to life — “the darkroom enhances this sense of tranquillity with warm tones and colours”, she tells us.

From her self-taught start-up, the photographer first moved to London to pursue and a BA in fashion photography at the London College of Fashion. Here, she says, she was able to develop a photographic language where feminist perspectives pay a central role. She draws inspiration from Peruvian and Latin American filmmakers, painters and artists alike, finding a “deep fulfilment and a sense of freedom” in her celebration of her identity and heritage through photography.