Tarapoto is a small city deep in the Amazon jungle in Northern Peru where we discovered a beautiful seemingly-curated collection of fine-art murals. With the support of friends and artists, inspired by the deep connection with self, each other and nature resonating from the city’s murals, we have curated a collection of 14 prints for El Mural Gallery's Tarapoto Collection.
El Mural Gallery curator, Dr. Naji Makarem (PhD in Urban Planning/Future of Cities & Regions), imagined this collection on field trips to Tarapoto with his Masters students. He captured “Ni Una Mas” and “Letting Go” with his iPhone-8 back in 2018, printed and framed it and lived with it in love until El Mural Gallery was conceived in 2019/2020. In March 2020 El Mural Gallery Gallery LLP commissioned Jose-Luis, a professional photographer living in Lima, to captured the rest of the collection with a bigger and better lens.
The two murals Naji had taken on his iPhone were deteriorated by then, but thankfully we were able to increase their resolution from 72 dpi to 720dpi using a free AI tool online. “Ni Una Mas” and “Letting Go” are available to view in the Tarapoto Collection on www.elmuralgallery.com.
Finding a photographer to capture Tarapoto Murals on film and do it right was not easy. It's perhaps hard for a professional photographer to simply 'point and shoot' so that the mural can be placed on your wall, with nothing showing from the surroundings. Some images were cut to remove some sky or a pavement and very minor alterations were made, but essentially these are raw photos of the murals. despite a simple brief, this was a difficult project for any photographer, because the murals face different directions, which means that each mural had its ideal window of opportunity at different times of day for capturing it on film. Jose-Luis spent a day mapping the murals and noting the ideal time of day and spent several days over the week taking photos just as the sun shone on Tarapoto's murals. We had 24 murals that we had chosen to be photographed (from a quick iPhone sprint around Tarapoto by Moto-Taxi). We curated a collection of 14 prints for the Tarapoto Collection.
Come and see the entire collection exhibited at 54 The Gallery in Mayfair or check it out online at www.elmuralgallery.com from Monday the 28th of August.
Launch week - 28th August - 3rd September - Mayfair, London W1J 7XQ
Our exhibition runs from the 28th of August until and including the 3rd of September. Visit us anytime from 11:30am to 9pm. The address is 54 The Gallery, W1J 7XQ.
About 54 The Gallery:
The gallery is located in Mayfair in what could be a pedestrian network of small roads (not too many cars) with lots of wonderful galleries, restaurants, cafes and pubs. If you've never visited this hidden gem in London before you will love it and we hope you will also love the work of 17 artists in the main gallery and the Tarapoto Collection in our little private space downstairs.
Join us at our opening night the 23rd of August (7pm to 10pm).
Our launch party is on Wednesday the 30th of August 2023 with many other artists and exhibitors at 54 The Gallery, for a fun evening of art and live music!
Stay tuned for a Friday event (sign up to our Newsletter)
We limited the number of Eventbrite tickets for priority viewing of the Tarapoto Collection to 25 and they sold out, but chances are you will find an opening in the El Mural Gallery space downstairs, because the launch event is happening in the main gallery space where we will gather, listen to live music and socialise