La Rosa, Fernando

Fernando La Rosa dedicated over 45 years to photography, as both an artist and educator. From 1961 to 1964, he studied at the National School of Fine Arts in Lima, Peru. In 1973, he studied under the guidance of the renowned photographer Minor White in Boston. Upon returning to Lima, Fernando established the first gallery and school in Peru dedicated to photography, curating exhibitions of internationally recognized photographers such as Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan, organizing symposiums, and publishing a series of texts on photography - "Secuencia Textos." In 1977, at Secuencia, Fernando organized the first solo exhibition in Lima of the Peruvian photographer Martín Chambi, whose early 20th-century photographs of Machu Picchu inspired La Rosa's interest in photographing archaeological sites. In 1979, La Rosa moved from Lima to New York, where he taught photography at the Parsons School of Design, and later at its affiliated location in Altos de Chavón in the Dominican Republic. Subsequently, he taught photography at Tulane University in New Orleans, Sookmyung University in Seoul, South Korea, and Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. La Rosa began exhibiting his photographs in 1974. His first solo exhibition was at the Forum Gallery in Lima in 1975. In addition to exhibitions of his work in Peru, La Rosa extensively exhibited in the United States and many other countries. In 2008, the Peruvian-North American Cultural Institute in Lima held a significant retrospective of La Rosa's photography from 1968 to 2007. After his death, there were commemorative exhibitions of his photography at the Center for the Image and Lima Photo, honoring his significant contributions to establishing photography as an important art form in Peru.