Sergio Larraín, photographed street children, rural and marginalized areas of his native Chile, the Sicilian mafia and even worked with the poet Pablo Neruda.
Originally from Santiago, became the first Latin American to be part of the Magnum Agency, a place that he undoubtedly won for his great sensitive and melancholic gaze.
Born into a family related to the arts and culture, he studied Forestry Engineering in the United States, where he began taking photographs with a Leica IIIC camera, which definitely changed his life.
Returning to Chile due to the accidental death of his younger brother Santiago, Sergio Larraín set out again on a trip through Europe and the Middle East, trying to heal and overcome this fact, which also brought him closer to his most sensitive and spiritual.
Upon his return, Sergio Larraín isolated himself in the commune of La Reina, a then semi-rural area, fleeing from his ostentatious and luxurious life, where he collaborated with institutions that support children living on the streets.
Orphaned children and marginalized people, was the reflection of his desperate yearning for a more equitable and prosperous society, which significantly marked the beginning of his career as a photographer.
This series of images came into the hands of Edward Steichen, curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, who purchased them. By 1956, Larraín was already working as a freelance photographer and for the Brazilian international magazine O Cruzeiro.
In 1958, he held his first exhibition at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Santiago, together with the paintings of Sheila AW Hicks, and received a grant from the British Council to travel to London for four months, where he produced his famous series on that city.
That was how Sergio Larraín He met Henri Cartier-Bresson, who finally opened the door to Magnum, and with which Larraín decided to settle in Paris.
This period of his career was marked by his work in prestigious magazines and his interesting reports on the Mafia Sicilian or the marriage of Farah Diva and the Shah of Iran.
However, he once again decided to return to his origins and return to Chile at the beginning of the 60s, in order to address topics of interest to him, far from commercial matters.
During this period, he teamed up with Neruda, in the making of a book and the making of some photographs about Valparaíso and the poet's house in Isla Negra, Chile, a work published in his book Una casa en la arena.
Leaving Magnum definitively, he settled in Arica in 1965, moved by spiritual teachings and meditation, a life that he continued for the rest of his years and that he mixed with painting, reading and yoga.
Considered one of the best Chilean photographers, He died at the age of 80, on February 7, 2012, connected to his true passions and sensibility.