Construction of a social portrait of the city of Lima through documentary photography: a university perspective; [Construção do retrato social da cidade de Lima por meio da fotografia documental: uma visão universitária]

Zapata Coba D.R.; Coronel Cáceres J.C.; Gómez Díaz R.L.; Pariona Benavides M.T. · Cuadernos.info (2026) · DOI: 10.7764/cdi.64.101090

Resumen

This research aimed to understand how university students construct a social portrait of the city of Lima through documentary photography. To this end, we selected a purposive sample of 30 images from 70 photographs taken in six districts of Metropolitan Lima in 2025. This visual analysis was complemented by two focus groups, where students from the Universidad Federico Villarreal National reflected on their emotions, urban experiences, and aesthetic decisions when photographing the city. The combination of techniques enabled the articulation of both the aesthetic perspective and the social interpretation present in the images produced. The results show that young people perceive Lima as a city marked by profound contrasts, characterized by diversity, intensity, and the coexistence of social inequalities alongside processes of modernity and constant change. The photographs analyzed reveal a humanistic sensibility, making visible faces and situations often excluded from the institutional imagination, such as the daily lives of informal workers, older adults, children, and residents of peripheral areas. These representations allow for a critical reading of urban fragmentation, daily precariousness, and the socio-spatial tensions that shape Lima’s territory. The study concludes that university documentary photography is a significant tool for understanding and representing social complexity, provided it is practiced with responsibility, social awareness, and a visual ethic that respects human dignity.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal; Universidad César Vallejo