Christian Ugarte Bravo (Ian Tevo), Lima, 1983
Ian Tevo is a Peruvian visual artist who has also worked as a press photographer for many years. His artistic practice is part of a need with which he expresses a side of his personality from an anthropological approach. Through his work — located within the limits of art, pornography, and eroticism — he questions morality and certain aspects of the relationship between men and masculinity, as well as sensuality with transgression and feelings. For twelve years, Ian Tevo has been investigating the relationship between sex work and art from a very intimate approach. He uses desire as an engine for the construction of masculinity and questions it, including his own. His initial inquiries arise when documenting night clubs: What are the customers looking for? Is it just pleasure, how are shaped? Does attending these spaces become a sort of “masculinity ritual”? Is their masculinity reinforced in places like these? Due to these queries, Ian Tevo decided to photograph sex workers. Hotel rooms became settings for the photos but also spaces for conversation and debate, where the constant themes are the construction of desire, and how to become more attractive, even when this implies that deception is part of the deal.
His recent work includes escorts and amateur porn actors as protagonists, with whom he not only has a working relationship but also a friendship. The incisive questioning for the desire of the sexed body that concerns him is manifested through his fragmented masculinity, which makes him look for any discourse that allows him to be socially accepted without necessarily following the rules. He is currently studying Visual Project Management and Photography at Centro de la Imagen in Lima. In 2019 he participated in the Documentary Filmmaking Workshop at Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV, San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. He has also participated in the Documentary Photography Workshop with Victor Blue and Kirsten Luce in Antigua, Guatemala (2014) and the Documentary Essay Workshop with Michael Robinson Chavez, Los Angeles Times photographer (2013). Between 2008 and 2011 he studied to become a Professional Technician in Photography at Centro de la Imagen, Lima. His first solo exhibition, entitled Mercenario I (2021) was presented at Espacio Laboraleatorio gallery in Lima and he has participated in several group exhibitions. For his second solo show, Mercenario II (2022), at proyectoamil, he was the beneficiary of the Economic Stimulus for the Visual Arts 2021 of the Peruvian Ministry of Culture. Some awards and distinctions include being selected as an artist for Der Greif N° 12, edited by Broomberg & Chanarin (2019); honorable mention at the 5th Salón Nacional de la Fotografía del ICPNA, Lima (2017); nominated for Masterclass World Press Photo (2015); fellow at Foundry Photojournalism, Guatemala (2014); among others. Ian has also been developing his first feature film, entitled “The European Dream”, which narrates the migration to the Old Continent of Latin American LGBTQ+ sex workers. This project was a finalist for the Pulitzer Center Travel Grant Persephone Miel in 2017 and 2018.