Bio

Alina Vargas-Afanasieva is an editorial and portrait photographer from the Dominican Republic. She started her professional journey in 2006 and since then, her work has been published in nationally recognized magazines of the Dominican Republic : Estilos, Pandora, Santo Domingo Times, Shine, SDQ, Mujer Unica, La Casa, and others.

She is mostly known for her glamour portraiture of female celebrities, media personalities, and prominent figures of her country. In 2011 she opened Ladybug Pin Up, which became the first and only studio dedicated to pin-up photography in the Dominican Republic.

In 2013, Vargas made her first solo exhibition called Pin-Up de Pura Cepa (roughly translated as “Purebred Pin-Ups”) dedicated to the diverse beauty of the Dominican woman. Due to its success in Santo Domingo the project had its own pop-up exhibition at  APT78 in New York City. Within that same year,  Ms. Vargas was selected to participate within the 27th Art Biennial held at the Museum of Modern Art of Santo Domingo (MAM).

In 2016, with prominent dominican art director and artist Yeimy Díaz Romero, the two executed a new conceptual art exhibit called  Las Aventuras de ChapiBarbie y MariKén.

Currently, Alina continues her editorial work and working on her brand Ladybug Pin Up .

Exhibitions:

1. "Pin-Up de pura cepa" 2013. Blue Mall (Santo Domingo), APT78 (Nueva York).

2. "En el tocador ó la fugacidad del marditismo" 2013. 27th Art Biennial (Santo Domingo). Museum of Modern Art.

3. "Las Aventuras de ChapiBarbie y MariKen", 2016. Centro Cultural Mirador (Santo Domingo).

4. "Barroco Tropical", 2018. Centro de la Imagen (Santo Domingo)

5. “Raíces“, 2018. 29na Bienal Nacional de Artes Visuales. (Santo Domingo)