Roman Jehanno draws the portrait of craftsmen around the world. After his series on Japan, he proposes us to discover these traditional workers in Peru. More than the breathtaking landscapes, it is the people that interest this Parisian photographer. In his series he values the people who crossed his path. More particularly, the local craftsmen, treasurers of thousand-year-old traditions representative of their culture.

“This work took me to the most incredible craft shops and workplaces, where I met the artisans, artists and workers of Peru. From Lima to the Paracas desert, passing through Ayacucho, Cuzco, Patacancha, Ica, Nazca and Puno, all these people perpetuate an ancestral knowledge often used long before the arrival of the Spaniards in these lands” explains the photographer. So let’s discover together the incredible characters met by this inveterate globetrotter.

Rocky is a scallop fisherman. This type of fishing can be practiced as well in apnea as in summary respiratory aid, a compressor in a boat sends air into a tube held in the mouth by the diver. With all the danger that this fishing involves, Rocky works isolated in a small fishing village 2 hours away from the first tarmac road.

Teodosia Hyatta Quispe 41 years old, Taquiler Weaver

Algae Harvester, Paracas Desert

Alejandro Flores, 66 years old, a renowned musician and Taquile weaver, learned to work with his parents on the loom. This cultural heritage has lasted at 4200m above sea level on Lake Titicaca for generations.

Marcial Berrocal Evanan was born in the traditional town of Sarhua, 3 hours drive from Ayacucho. His very large Tablas Coloridas decorate the inside of the roofs of the houses of the city.
Originally the Tablas were made by a local artist as an offering to a family when they moved into a new home. Tablas depicted moments of life, community customs and personalized anecdotes.
After the socio-political violence of Shining Path, the Sarhuinos began to reduce the size of the Tablas to market them in Lima.
The Ministry of Culture of Peru recognized this art as Cultural Patrimony of the Nation.

Saturnino is a miner in the region of Arequipa, to cut one of these stones which will be used for the construction or the restoration of the prestigious buildings of Arequipa it takes about 1 hour of manual work. Each stone is then sold to companies at 5 soles per stone (about 1€). On a good working day Saturnino can cut up to 12 stones. Today Saturnino divides his activity between stone cutting and taking care of tourists to whom he expounds the process in place in this quarry.

Antonio Licona Tarco, 82 years old, first had a long career in construction. He then joined his wife’s family bakery where he has been working ever since. His wife’s grandmother used to bake bread in the town of Oropesa, at that time the ovens were all shared in the centre of the village, now each bakery has its own bread oven. The oven can hold about fifty loaves of bread in each batch, a fire burns permanently in the left corner of the alcove, a small fan at the entrance of the oven continuously fanning the embers, but the baker’s work can only be done properly if he keeps a close eye on the temperature of the oven. The water supply from their house-studio runs into the oven, which gives them access to hot water. Antonio works every morning from 3 am in the company of his grandson. They have breakfast of their own bread accompanied by a Maté de Quinoa.

The community of Quelqanka in the Peruvian Andes is a people of llama and alpaca breeders, when a young llama is incorporated into the herd they marry it with another animal of the group, during this ceremony two people, kind of godfathers of the newcomer dance and make offerings to the Patchamama (mother earth) in order to bind these two animals. They are given coloured strands of wool which will be attached to their ears so that they can be distinguished once they are released into the Andean pastures.