Photo Studio Luisita was founded by Luisa Escarria (Cali, Colombia, 1929—Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2019) and her younger sister Chela (Cali, 1930), following in their parents’ footsteps. Luisa was the photographer, and Chela did the manual editing and colouring in the laboratory.

The women of the Escarria family emigrated from Colombia in 1958, following the era of ‘Violencia’. Upon arriving in Argentina, they installed themselves in the mythical apartment on Corrientes Avenue, which served as both their home and their studio until 2009.

Luisita and Chela did the photography for the theatre screens and the programs at the Maipo Theatre. Between 1958 and 2007, they registered, above the buzzing stages of the theatres, in the quiet intimacy of their studio-home, tens of thousands of photos of actresses, actors, dancers, musicians, comedians and others that are part of popular Argentine culture. Nélida Lobato, the sisters Pons, Amelia Vargas, Moria Casán, Susana Giménez, Susana Traverso, René Lavand, Atahualpa Yupanqui, Pepe Marrone and Juanita Martínez are among the hundreds of celebrities that can be found in the archive with more than 40.000 images.

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