For over twenty years, Magnum photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti (1968, New York) has been following the lives of the Argentinian cousins Guillermina Aranciaga and Belinda Stutz. What started in 1999 as a chance encounter on a ranch near Buenos Aires, evolved into a long-term photographic project in which Sanguinetti captures the dreams, struggles, and reality of the girls’ lives in rural Argentina. The Adventures of Guille and Belinda presents nearly fifty photographs by Sanguinetti highlighting her poetic, imaginative, and poignant work.
Set against the vast, rural landscapes of Argentina, Sanguinetti’s work immerses us in a coming-of-age narrative that is as universal as it is personal. The series chronicling the girls’ friendship and their evolving sense of self as they navigate the complexities of adolescence. At first glance, their innocent games of dress-up and pretend become metaphors for the larger struggles of identity, gender, and societal expectations.
Sanguinetti’s work offers a poignant reflection on friendship, growth, and the fluidity of identity. The Adventures of Guille and Belinda invites the viewer into a world where innocence and wisdom coexist, where the personal becomes universal, and where the adventure of life unfolds in the most unexpected of places.
