Milena Carranza Valcárcel
1982 - Lima, Perú / Established in Paris, France.
Milena has a degree in Audiovisual Communication, a diploma in Photography and in Therapy through the Expressive Arts, and a master's degree in cultural management.
An activist within the Afro-Peruvian movement since 2000, she has since been part of various organizations, receiving in 2011 a grant from the U.S. State Department to take the experiential program "The Cultural Heritage of the African Diaspora" in six cities in the U.S. In 2012 she founded and directed, for three years, the Iwa Pele Educational Project, a space for development through art for children of African descent in the district of La Victoria.
She is also dedicated to cultural management, has worked as Coordinator of the Cultural Center of the Universidad Científica del Sur and as Coordinator of the Student Activities of the Cultural Area of the Peruvian-North American Cultural Institute - ICPNA. In Paris, she did an internship at UNESCO in the General History of Africa program and worked as a project manager at the cultural tourism agency Little Africa.
His photographic work focuses mainly on identity issues and the artistic, cultural and spiritual manifestations of Afro-Peruvians and the African Diaspora.
In this way, she has been exhibiting in various institutions and cultural centers in the country and abroad. She has exhibited in venues such as the National Afro-Peruvian Museum, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington D.C. and the Afro-Latino Festival in New York, USA. She has also exhibited at the 12th Biennial of African Photography "Les Rencontres de Bamako" in Mali and as part of the Quinzaine du Pérou en France "Quipu" and the Quinzaine de l'Égalité, la Diversité et la Citoyenneté de la ville de Bordeaux, where she won the prize for best exhibition.
Currently based in Paris, Milena continues her career by continually exhibiting her archives, creating alongside other diaspora artists, and contributing through art and activism through her "Perú Decolonial" project, which seeks to reimagine the culture of Peru in France.
CURATORSHIP
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"Pérou Noir"
Collective exhibition of contemporary Afro-Peruvian visual art
Little Africa Village - Paris, France 2025
INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS
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Latin America Week - UNESCO "Hatajo de negritos y pallitas - Afro-Andean Heritage of Peru" Paris, France 2025
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Galerie Canopy "Habiter" Paris, France 2024
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Peruvian Fortnight in France "Quipu 2021" - Festival "Tambor y Canto"
Cité de la Musique
"Atajo afro-andine d'Amador Ballumbrosio"
Marseille, France 2021
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Peruvian Fortnight in France "Quipu 2019" and Fortnight of Equality, Diversity and Citizenship of Bordeaux - Bordeaux Town Hall
"Atajo afro-andine d'Amador Ballumbrosio"
Bordeaux, France 2019
Prize for the best photo exhibition
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North American - Peruvian Cultural Institute - ICPNA
"Atajo de Negritos de Amador Ballumbrosio"
Chincha, Peru 2017
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Deconcentrated Direction of the Peruvian Ministry of Culture in Callao "Ha nacido el niño Dios" Callao, Perú 2014
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Afroperuvian National Museum
"Atajo de Negritos de Amador Ballumbrosio"
Lima, Peru 2011
COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS
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Axe Pérou Lyon
Collective of Peruvian artists in France
Mairie du 2ème, Lyon, France - Novembre 2025
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Consulate of Peru in Paris "Afro-Peruvian visual art" César Octavio Santa Cruz + Milena Carranza Paris, France - Juin 2024
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Axe Pérou Strasbourg "Peruvian art in Bischheim" Collective of Peruvian artists in France Strasbourg, France - April 2024
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8th PRIZM Art Fair - Miami Art Week Virtual
"Black, black: meditations on African cinema and its influence on visual art"
Miami, EEUU - December 2020 / Virtual edition
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AfroAméricaLatina - MACLA
Collective exhibition as a part of the Latin America and Caribbean week
Bordeaux, France - October 2020
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12th "Encounters of Bamako - African Biennial of Photography
Streams of consciousness
Bamako, Mali - November 2019
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Afrolatino New York Festival
New York, EEUU - July 2015
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Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Peru - Pachamama | Washington, EEUU - June-July 2015
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Caguas Museum
Afrolatinos
Caguas, Puerto Rico - 2011
PUBLICATIONS
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D'Palenque N° 6 - Revista de Literatura Afroperuana
Article "El arte es nacer sin pensar o la vida del arte visual afroperuano"
December 2021
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Something We Africans Got - SWAG #10
Africa arts critical thought - Article "Latinoamérica también es africana y viva
México cabrones" + pictures
May 2020
TALKS
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Maison de l'Amérique Latine - Tribune de la musique
La cultura afroperuana a través de mis fotos
Paris, France - October 2022
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African Culture Students Association of Lyon - AECAL
The resemblances between the Afroperuvian, Afrocuban and Afrobrazilian culture + Photo Exhibition
Lyon, France - May 2018
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MoAD - Museum of the African Diaspora
The experience in making the "Atajo de negritos de Amador Ballumbrosio" photographic exhibition.
San Francisco, EEUU - August 2015
CULTURAL PROJECTS