FEDERICO ESTOL フェデリコ・エストル

Every day over 3,000 shoe shiners take to the streets of La Paz, Bolivia. These anonymous workers are part of Bolivia's informal economy, leaving them vulnerable to discrimination and without basic labour rights. To conceal their identities, they wear disguises because no one in their neighbourhoods know they shine shoes - even their own families believe they have other jobs.

These shoe shiners operate in the margins of society - but not in Federico Estol's images.

Instead, he reframes them as superheroes. The artist worked collaboratively with 60 shoe shiners and Hormigón Armada, a local initiative that produces a monthly newspaper to raise money for the workers. In 2019, Estol produced a special photographic edition. Since then, they have made CDs, toys, calendars, and postcards, funded by the project's success within the photography industry.

Winner of the open competition KG+ SELECT in 2025, Estol presents this new solo exhibition as part of his prize. The exhibition will also feature products that the shoeshiners typically use in La Paz, presented within an installation where their masks are not a symbol of anonymity, but of identity and unity.