Daniela Rivera Antara

(From left to right) Adriana Sierra, 22, her son Mateo, 2; Maria José Brizuela, 22; Joselvis Medina, 24, and her daughter Aranza, 2, on their way to start their day shift selling coffee around the neighbourhood market. Mateo is Joselvis’ nephew, as Adriana was previously partnered with Joselvis’ brother. They live together in the same residential building in the lower income neighbourhood of San Juan de Miraflores, in southern Lima. The three women have been working in the streets since they arrived in Peru, after having worked jobs that didn’t pay them or where they were harassed by the owners. Normally they make $4 a day. From the series, The Silence of Dawn ©Daniela Rivera Antara

March’s featured photographer is Daniela Rivera Antara

Daniela (b. 1996) was born in Peru and raised between Lima and Australia. Her photography turns daily life scenes into evocative scenarios. Daniela works primarily with natural light, reflecting her classical training in the arts and design with strong influences from the renaissance Master painters.

Her studies took her to New York University in New York and Abu Dhabi, the Royal College of Art and the International Centre of Photography (NYC). She interned at The Guardian in the Global Development desk and with The Observer New Review before going into photography.

Blending an approach of fine art and documentary, with strong interests in gender, culture, identity and spaces, Daniela has photographed global stories about women and youth.

The Silence of Dawn

To migrate is like the silence I can hear when I can’t sleep at dawn. That silence when you know that the sun is rising but cannot see it yet, and you are waiting for light in the middle of the darkness. Yenifer Duran, 20, in Lima, Peru.

For 6 months I photographed Venezuelan women migrants who live in Lima, Peru. I was visually inspired by their stories, their longing and nostalgia as well as how they perceived themselves within the patriarchal and hierarchical society of Lima. I photographed their objects and spaces to convey the emotions they live with daily after being displaced in a hostile country.

In Peru, Venezuelan women experience criminalizing xenophobia differently to men. Through stereotypes perpetrated by local media, men are perceived as murderers and thieves while women are stereotyped as desperate for money, potential sex-workers and without many skills. This has casted women into informal, precarious, feminized and racialized work. Over 5 million Venezuelan migrants have been displaced within Latin America. By 2018 in Peru, 58% were women and by 2019 most women entering the country were under the age of 30 (UNHCR*). Many of whom work informal jobs, were paid below minimum wage and encountered barriers for pursuing any form of education.

By 2021, over one million Venezuelan migrants had arrived in Peru. It became the second country in the world with the highest population of Venezuelan forced migrants after Colombia. Despite UN suggestions, Peru does not recognize Venezuelan migrants as refugees with a few exceptions for health conditions such as HIV.

A birth and a suffering. By Yenifer Duran, 20. The writing below the image says “A birth and a suffering.” Yenifer stands with her 1 year old son by the window of the room she lives in with her partner one hour outside of Lima, Peru. They arrived in Peru in November 2019 from Valencia, Venezuela. “I found out I was pregnant when I started to work as a hostess right after arriving in Lima by bus. I quit and then worked as a waitress, where my boss would demand I turn in the tips I got from customers. One day he told me having my baby would ruin my life. That if I aborted him he would give me a better life and would buy me everything I needed or wanted, but I had to be available for sex. After months working there, I quit.” From the series, The Silence of Dawn ©Daniela Rivera Antara
I remembered when my grandmother would tell me I had delirious dreams of being a queen and Aranza a princess. By Joselvis Medina, 24 years old. The christmas dress of Joselvis Medina’s daughter lays on the floor of the room where they live together in San Juan de Miraflores, a southern district of Lima, Peru. ”I arrived in Peru with Aranza with nothing to eat and without a suitcase. My partner sent me money from Peru but when he picked me up I realised we didn’t have a bed or a kitchen. I want Aranza to have everything I never had. It might be silly and unimportant, but it is a dream of mine to give her what I never had.” From the series, The Silence of Dawn ©Daniela Rivera Antara
Portrait of Josemir Mahmud, 35 years old. She arrived in Lima 3 months after her husband in 2018. She left her parents and her newly bought house in Coro, North-West of Venezuela. Josemir stood for a portrait with her grandmother’s shawl, who was an immigrant from Palestine. Josemir graduated with a degree in Chemistry and in Lima works as a hairdresser and as a baker. She and her husband do weekly voluntary work as missionaries within the same neighbourhood of San Juan de Miraflores. From the series, The Silence of Dawn ©Daniela Rivera Antara
Being and to be. Struggle, adaptation, consistency, greetings and goodbye’s. A long journey filled with flowers with thorns and with clouds that look like cotton. A day by day, a long night, hard work, consistency, exhaustion, rest… By Marisol Perez, 58. 23 Feb 2021. Bedroom of Marisol Perez, 58, mother of Nahkya Gutierrez. Marisol co-owned a restaurant with her family in Venezuela and only decided to migrate with her two children after her father passed away. “I came to Peru with the idea that I would be an asset to the local economy. I wanted to bake cakes and give my children a better chance in life. After 4 years in Peru, I see this place as my second home but also as a place that we might have to leave. My father migrated to Venezuela escaping Franco in Spain and now we would like to go back to where he came from.” From the series, The Silence of Dawn ©Daniela Rivera Antara
(Left) Portrait of a shirt Rosa keeps in a separate plastic bag. “My mother gave me this shirt as a gift right before I left Merida. It was a shirt I wore to a baseball game in Venezuela, and it always reminds me of her.” The shirt hangs from the window where she lives with her two children and partner. (Right) Isaac, 8, plays on the rooftop of the residence after finishing playing with his brother inside the bedroom. From the series, The Silence of Dawn ©Daniela Rivera Antara
During the day I think everything is fine but at night I realize that something in me broke and I cannot sleep because I have nightmares that I am in Venezuela in the streets again or that I am walking aimlessly. By Adriana Sierra. “I walked to Peru followed by journalists who photographed my son while we crossed the mountains of Colombia without shoes or a jacket. I was homeless in Venezuela, that is why I left. There are moments when I look back and realize we both could have died.” Adriana was sexually assaulted in Cucuta, Colombia after leaving Venezuela in January 2020 and arrived in Lima in March 2020. From the series, The Silence of Dawn ©Daniela Rivera Antara
Dawn in the district of Comas, in Northern Lima. From the series, The Silence of Dawn ©Daniela Rivera Antara

To see more of Daniela’s works, here

La fotógrafa del mes de marzo es Daniela Rivera Antara

Daniela (n. 1996) nació en Perú y se crió entre Lima y Australia. Su fotografía convierte escenas de la vida cotidiana en escenarios evocadores oníricos. Daniela trabaja principalmente con luz natural, lo que refleja su formación clásica en las artes y el diseño con fuertes influencias de los maestros pintores del renacimiento.

Sus estudios la llevaron a la Universidad de Nueva York en Nueva York y Abu Dhabi, el Royal College of Art y el Centro Internacional de Fotografía (NYC). Hizo una pasantía en The Guardian en el departamento de Desarrollo Global y en The Observer New Review antes de dedicarse a la fotografía.

Combinando un enfoque de bellas artes y documental, con fuertes intereses en género, cultura, identidad y espacios, Daniela ha fotografiado historias globales sobre mujeres y jóvenes.

The Silence of Dawn

Migrar es como el silencio que escucho cuando no puedo dormir al amanecer. Ese silencio cuando sabes que sale el sol pero aún no puedes verlo, y estás esperando la luz en medio de la oscuridad. / Yenifer Duran, 20, en Lima, Perú.

Durante 6 meses fotografié a mujeres venezolanas migrantes que viven en Lima, Perú. Me inspiraron visualmente sus historias, su añoranza y nostalgia, así como también la forma en la que se percibían a sí mismas dentro de la sociedad patriarcal y jerárquica de Lima. Fotografié sus objetos y espacios para transmitir las emociones que viven a diario tras ser desplazadas en un país que se había vuelto hostil.

En Perú, las mujeres venezolanas viven la xenofobia de manera diferente a los hombres. A través de los estereotipos perpetrados por los medios locales, los hombres son percibidos como asesinos y ladrones, mientras que las mujeres son estereotipadas como desesperadas por dinero, trabajadoras sexuales y sin muchas habilidades. Esto ha empujado a varias mujeres al trabajo informal y precario. Más de 5 millones de venezolanos han sido desplazados dentro de América Latina. Para el 2018 en Perú, el 58% eran mujeres y para el 2019 la mayoría de las mujeres que ingresaron al país eran menores de 30 años (ACNUR*). Muchos de los cuales trabajan en empleos informales, se les paga por debajo del salario mínimo y se encontraron con barreras para seguir cualquier forma de educación.

Para 2021, más de un millón de migrantes venezolanos habían llegado a Perú. Se convirtió en el segundo país del mundo con mayor población de migrantes forzados venezolanos después de Colombia. A pesar de las sugerencias de la ONU, Perú no reconoce a los migrantes venezolanos como refugiados, con algunas excepciones por problemas de salud como el VIH.

Para ver más de los trabajos de Daniela, aquí