El Muqui

Paccarik Orue was born and raised in Lima, Peru and resides in the Bay Area, California where he earned a BFA from the Academy of Art University. His work has been shown at Blue Sky Gallery, SFO Museum, Book & Job Gallery, SF Camerawork, Rayko Photo Center and it has been featured in The New York Times, PDN, Juxtapox, KQED, Conscientious, Lenscratch, among others. He was selected by PDN as one of the 30 Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2016 and has been awarded En Foco’s New Works Photography Fellowship Award (2013-2014.) Orue is the recipient of Duke University’s 2016 Archive of Documentary Arts Collection Award for Documentarians of Color. His first monograph, There Is Nothing Beautiful Around Here was published by Owl & Tiger Books in 2012.





There Is Nothing Beautiful Around Here

Richmond, California is a place where many families are struggling with rising unemployment, foreclosure, poverty, and the ensuing violence and substance abuse. This situation has accentuated Richmond’s reputation for being one of the roughest parts of the Bay Area. However, Richmond is also a place where turkeys walk past on the sidewalks, dogs guard their owner’s properties, people ride horses in the park, and fire hydrants cool the hot afternoons. During one of my visits, a middle-aged African American woman asked me why I was taking pictures in her neighborhood. I answered that it was beautiful. She responded, “there is nothing beautiful around here.” Beauty and sorrow live side by side in Richmond. This body of work documents this contradiction, the character of the city and the pride of its residents.