Andean Cholita — La Paz Market Bowl
30,858.75 ¥
A Bolivian cholita vendor in El Alto market above La Paz — traditional pollera skirt layers, bowler hat, shawl, and bright fabric awning overhead, her produce display communicating the visual language of Andean market culture.
Description
The cholita — the term for indigenous Aymara and Quechua women who maintain traditional dress in Bolivia — is both an ethnographic subject and an evolving fashion identity, the traditional pollera skirt and bowler hat now worn with pride as a marker of cultural continuity in urban Bolivia. This portrait was made at the Thursday market of El Alto the large city above La Paz at 4,150 metres altitude — where the produce and textile market extends across several city blocks. The subject, a potato and oca vendor, is arranged behind her market display in the characteristic cholita selling position — seated on a plastic stool with the produce at ground level before her, the layered pollera skirt spreading around her in a circle of fabric. Shot at f/2.8 on a 50mm prime with the bright market canopy providing even overhead diffusion.
