Esther Parada was an artist, writer, and educator whose work explored the political, historical, and social relations between the United States and Latin America. Her career began in the mid-1960s when she served with the U.S. Peace Corps as an art instructor at the Escuela de Artes Plasticas, Universidad de San Francisco Xavier, in Sucre, Bolivia. She photographed the expressive faces, richly patterned textiles, and harsh light of the Altiplano as a way to retain and memorize the experience of living among the Indigenous peoples of the Andes.