Lucio Boschi He is a renowned Argentine photographer. An observer, quiet and traveler man, who is excited with rawness and beauty when they manifest together.
As a young man began to travel and photograph, first Argentina and then the world. His avidity led him to remote places such as Alaska, Mongolia or Nepal. “My first impulse was to be a traveler and the photograph seemed a successful language to communicate and share what I see and feel traveling. When I was 17, 18, I realized that I wanted to travel and the first place I wanted to come was northern Argentine. He had that dream, ”he tells from his home in Huichaira, Jujuy.
News: Why the north?
Lucio Boschi: I felt that beauty and rawness were combined here, and it is so. I came in my truck and with the passing of the days I had a very calm feeling, of well -being, of feeling welcome. I felt and I feel some relief. It is a place to fit.
News: A place of tranquility
Boschi: Yes, but it also has a certain savagery, nature manifests itself in a forceful way, is dry, you are almost three thousand meters high. But it makes me feel very good.
In 1998 he began to live in a community of native peoples of the Andes, in Jujuy. Over time he built his house in Huichaira and in 2012 he opened the Museum in the hills In the same place.
He is the author of eight books and his works are part of: The Anthropology Research Department of Ucla; The Massachusetts Institute of Technology; University of Roma; United Nations; Smithsonian Institute; Archaeological Museum of Tilcara and The Andean Research Institute, among other spaces.
He worked with the ILO to create the first image bank on child labor in Argentina. He presented his photos in the Malba and Aperture Foundation in New York, among other places.
News: How was your Argentine-Alaska trip and back in a truck?
Boschi: It was in 1988, a very beautiful trip, with friends. There I realized that I wanted to be a traveler. Over time I lived again several months in Whitehorse, a town in the Yukón that I liked a lot, and I noted in the Council of Indians to be a intern. The indigenous people there are Eskimos, live in populations of CamSrs, Rolling and Houses that the Government made, and I had stays with them as part of the learning.
News: He was also in Siberia, Mongolia and Bután and lived with nomadic tribes
Boschi: Yes, I spent some time with some families living in tents in Mongolia. Then I followed China and made several trips to India and Nepal. Also two trips to Bután, where I was and walked with the nomadic tribes that live in the north. A beautiful experience. Then followed other trips, such as Center for Africa.
News: Did you work as a photographer?
Boschi: I tried to sell photos that I took in these extreme places and achieved it very little by little. In the ’95 I made the exhibition “People of the Andes and People of the Himalayas”, at the Recoleta Cultural Center. From then on I felt that I wanted to commit more to photography and, at the same time, start photographing in black and white. It was when I started coming to live north.
News: Why did Jujuy choose?
Boschi: As much as he was traveling around the world, he always returned to Argentina and always came to the north. And he always confirmed that it was the place where he wanted to be. It’s something felt.
News: What is life in Huichaira?
Boschi: From more or less where the Humahuaca ravine begins, it is the only area in Argentina where indigenous Andean populations are a majority. And that makes the cultural part have an interesting vector crossing. There is the culture that we bring and also folk dances, musical instruments, knitting ways, fabrics, mud, celebrations, rituals. Interesting things that always caught my attention and with which I wanted to live together. That’s why I chose this place. In ’97, ’98 I began to have the determination to come to live here to be close to a photographic theme that interests me: the Andean communities, their daily lives, their celebrations. Over time I found this place that I liked a lot and is called Huichaira. I got me to sell me a piece of land and little by little I was making a house and then the museum in the hills.
News: Why a museum?
Boschi: I always liked museums and, on the other hand, they had invited me to show my work in many museums here and outside. At one point I found the idea of making a museum here for the community.
News: What goal does it have?
Boschi: I started planning in 2010 and opened in 2012. The initial idea was to make a reference space for the boys of the community, the people who live nearby, the people who are interested in art here. We made a very respectful museum of the place, very organic with this area, with a permanent collection of Argentine photography and with temporary samples. There are also some video and movies and an open library to which many people come. Over the years, people from different parts of the world came, people come from the community, students, schools. Workshops, courses, contests are made, a lot of worlds are mixed in a very creative and virtuous way. It is an inspiring place. The entrance is open and free, with an optional contribution bonus.
News: How are your travel diaries and their maps?
Boschi: In addition to my work in the museum and my work as a photographer, I carry some travel newspapers in which annotations are mixed, things that I am gathering along the way. At some point I showed them and liked a lot and little by little I started working commercially with the newspapers as well. Then there are the maps that have the same language of the newspapers and have photos, contacts of contacts, written things, drawings, and I also sell them. I make small trips with my truck to concentrate on the maps, take pictures, write. These are moments when I achieve some silence, some intimacy, contact with what I want in my personal work.
News: How is your family and how does it accompany you in this life quasi nomad?
Boschi: I am married to Sofia (Pescarmona), which is Mendoza, and we have two children, Basil (18) and Sabina (16). They live in Mendoza and I spend a good time there and I always come to Jujuy. Sometimes, we are all together in one place, sometimes I come with Sofia to Jujuy and I am also a lot alone. We have a very traveling family format too, it has happened to make sabbatical years traveling and make Home School with the boys.
News: What did you learn with so many trips?
Boschi: That it is not necessary to travel to learn from life. I learned that in almost all places the same things happen and that we are all quite similar in some way. We all look for, grow, share and we all want to make nests, put it forward, take care of ourselves. Then, in a second instance, I learned that there are different ways of interpreting communication and union with existence, different religions, beliefs, cultures that are very interesting to me. Diversity in all orders seems very valuable and enriching for the health of the world.
