Misha Vallejo
Photographer
The Everyday Projects
Quito, Ecuador
Misha Vallejo was born in 1985 in Riobamba, Ecuador.
In 2014 he completed his MA in Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London and in 2010 he finished the St. Petersburg Faculty of Photojournalism. He works as a freelance photojournalist since 2010 and is a member of the photography collective Runa Photos. His work is constantly published by various media throughout Europe and the Americas, like Terra Incognita (Ecuador), Geo (France) or Esquire (Russia).In 2016 he published his first photobook "Al Otro Lado" with Brazilian publishing house Editora Madalena.
Among others, his recent exhibitions include “Buen Vivir Bien” at the National Art Museum of La Paz, Bolivia, FLUZ photography festival Quito (various open air and gallery venues), "ImproVISION 52" at the Photographic Museum of Humanity website 2015, "Miradas íntimas" at Arte Actual gallery in Quito in 2014, "La imagen cuenta - Latitudes" at the Cultural Centre García Márquez in Bogotá, Colombia in 2012, "24 Horas / Round the clock" at the Humboldt Association Quito in 2012 and "Inexistent people" at the contemporary art gallery Loft Project ETAGI in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2011. His work has also been showed at several international photography festivals in Russia, UK, Israel, Turkey and Lithuania.
In 2015 he was awarded a project development grant by the Ecuadorian National Arts Prize Nuevo Mariano Aguilera and the Fondos Concursables artistic grant by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Culture and Heritage, in 2013 he won the SonimagFoto scholarship given by the Photojournalism Postgraduate Department of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He was also shortlisted in international photo contests such as the Sony World Photography Awards 2015 in the Mobile Phone category, The Other Hundred – Entrepeneurs 2014, FotoVisura 2015, 2013 and 2010 and Exposure 2011, among others.
2015 - FotoVisura Grant Honorable Mention, 2015 - National Arts Prize Nuevo Mariano Aguilera , 2015 - Ecuadorian Culture Ministry, Fondos Concursables, 2015 - World Photo Organisation, 2014 - The Other Hundred - Entrepreneurs, 2013 - FotoVisura Grant Honorable Mention, 2010 - FotoVisura Grant Honorable Mention
- Arts
- Breaking news
- Corporate
- Editorial
- Environment
- Interview
- Portrait
- Reporting
- Video capture
- Video editing
- Portuguese
- German
- Russian
- Spanish
- English
Al Otro Lado (On the other side)
Misha Vallejo
Puerto Nuevo is a small village located on the banks of the San Miguel River, on the Ecuadorean side of the border with Colombia. Colombians fleeing armed conflict in the south of their country founded it in 2001. The town is located in a hard to reach area, in an impoverished region forgotten by the governments of both countries.
This is a documentary project that in no moment pretends to be objective. It is a documentary about a forgotten and traumatized village. It is forgotten and traumatized because violence and poverty do not distinguish between nationalities. This is a village in which the border is omnipresent and does not exist at the same time. This is a village where its inhabitants do not know what it means to live in Ecuador or Colombia, but certainly know what it is to live on the other side.
A short story from Minsk
Misha Vallejo
This project, shot during Easter of 2014, tells the story of the everyday life of a young Belorussian couple: Ksusha & Egor. They live in Minsk in a cramped flat shared with Ksusha’s mother, Olga, and sister, Jenia. Their life does not have many highs or lows, instead, it is a consistent routine marked by a difficult financial situation and their young love and commitment to each other, within the context of their country’s economical and political situation.
This is a silent story of the themes I am interested in: the lost person, and the lost place. It is an inside portrayal which enables me to express my own opinions through the people who allowed me into their lives. It is also a microcosm of the economical and political condition of the country, where the financial situation for common people is tight, but the country’s leader continues to enjoy wide support and respect from the population.This series is our shared diary from the short time we spent together in Belarus.
Infiltrators
Misha Vallejo
Assignment for John Hopkins Public Health magazine (USA).
“Infiltrators” is the name with which the Israeli government calls African asylum seekers. The official explanation for this term is that they come from enemy countries and should be seen as an enemy force within the state of Israel. As I see it, this is just a method of scaring local population in order to increase discrimination and racism against them.
The great majority of “infiltrators” crossed the Israeli-Egyptian border on foot, taking high risks with Bedouin smugglers (there are countless reports of kidnaps, tortures and rapes) during the last five years.