Mariano Vivanco

Mariano Vivanco is a Peruvian-born British based photographer and visual artist whose practice moves fluidly between portraiture, fashion, and fine art. His sustained focus on heritage, memory, and the preservation of beauty as a cultural act, are all part of his visual language. Born in Lima in 1975, Vivanco spent his early years travelling widely with his family before settling in New Zealand at the age of twelve, and then again moving to the UK at the age of 24. These experiences shaped his global outlook. His nuanced use of light and composition draws on the legacy of Edward Steichen and Horst P. Horst and George Hoyningen-Huene, filtered through his truly cosmopolitan sensibility, to often create iconic imagery. 

Based in London since 2000, Vivanco has become one of the most distinctive visual storytellers of his generation. His work has been exhibited extensively across Europe, the UK, and the United States, with presentations at Photo London, Paris Photo, Frieze No.9 Cork Street, and the National Portrait Gallery, London, where three of his works are held in the permanent collection.  Vivanco has published 10 books including; Uomini, Portraits Nudes Flowers, Calcio, David Gandy and PERU.

Internationally celebrated for his editorial and advertising photography, Vivanco's work has appeared in Vogue (US, Japan, Russia, Spain), Harper's Bazaar, GQ, Dazed, i-D, 10 Magazine, and Hero/Heroine and HARD COPY Magazine.   He has collaborated with fashion houses including Dolce & Gabbana, Montblanc, and Chopard and Lancome to name a few. Vivanco has also photographed important cultural figures such as Rihanna, Dua Lipa, Paul Mescal, Lewis Hamilton, Bella and Gigi Hadid, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez, Lenny Kravitz, Lady Gaga, Cristiano Ronaldo, Damien Hirst, and Donatella Versace plus many more.  Alongside this fast-paced commercial practice, Vivanco's fine art work operates at a slower, more contemplative register. Across his exhibitions, Vivanco consistently returns to the idea of photography as preservation: not simply capturing a subject, but holding a moment in time before it disappears. This philosophy underpins his participation in Forget Me Not, an exhibition concerned with displacement, erasure, and the urgent need to remember. For Vivanco, to pay attention and to remember- to history, to beauty, to cultural inheritance - is both an artistic and ethical act.