Mariano Vivanco
Provocative photographer
Peruvian photographer Mariano Vivanco has established himself as one of the world’s leading editorial photographers, regularly shooting for such magazines as Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ and i-D. Known for his intimate portraiture—often shot in black and white—of cultural icons like Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell (to name just a few), Vivanco prefers to take a pared-down, gimmick-free approach to photography. He also finds inspiration in shooting nudes. “Nudes are pure,” he has said. “They remove much of the artifice, enabling you to see pure form. What kind of response am I looking for? Depends on what I am trying to say or make the viewer feel. Sometimes it’s a sexual nature, sometimes it’s serenity, most of the time it’s somewhere in between.” In his latest book, Portraits Nudes Flowers, Vivanco offers up 15 years–worth of some of his most celebrated images. Here are a selection of PROVOKR’s favorites.
