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Native figure looking into mirror

This image depicts a central figure taking over the majority of the composition. The figure sits with their back to the camera in front of a mirror. They have turned slightly to the left so their reflection in the mirror is directly next to them. Their reflection shows that they are looking directly into the reflection of the camera. The figure has dark hair that is braided in sections and tied at the top and bottom and ends at the mid-lower back. They have a long sleeve top with a short-sleeved overshirt. They wear a cross-body satchel that is situated behind them and over their right shoulder. The bag has vertical striped patterns. The mirror sits on a table that is at elbow height to the figure who rests their hand on top. The table has a round leg that is skinny at the top and curves into a thicker section. The figure’s expression looks perhaps startled as their mouth sits slightly agape. Villalba’s images are thought to have been taken in Peru and Bolivia. This greater Andes region has evidence of human habitation up to 10,000 years ago. In the Colonial period, this region was discovered to have rich silver deposits that through new ways of mining and extracting transformed a remote Inka territory into the economic center of the Spanish empire. These mines were run by enslaved Indigenous peoples that at its peak, by the early seventeenth century 160,000 lived in Potosi to work the mines around the city. Potosi, a Quechua name meaning “the mountain that eats men,” became the first city of capitalism, consequently changing the economic complexion of the world.

Richardo Villalba

https://losgrandesfotografos.blogspot.com/2018/01/ricardo-villalba-activo-1860-1880.html

1860-1880

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