Guadalupe Laiz is an international artist, photographer and explorer born and raised in Argentina. She moved to the US aspiring to build a photography career when she was 20 years old. Guadalupe's main focus for these past ten years has been an extensive body of work capturing the beauty and uniqueness of the indigenous horses of Iceland, a country that has touched her deeply and continues to visit. Her work “Horses of Iceland” has been shown in exhibitions all over the world. She published her first book ‘Horses of Iceland’ with German Publisher Teneues in 2019.Guadalupe has been working on a second book all over Africa for these past six years. “Among the Living, Where You Belong” is her best work yet to be released in 2023, published with Australian publisher The Images Publishing Group. Guadalupe has partnered with nonprofits involved with environmental issues, animal abuse and human-animal conflicts in Africa, such as The Diane Fossy Foundation, Save Giraffes Now and Lewa Conservancy for Rhinos as well as humanitarian work for 4Africa in South Sudan and North Uganda. Driven by the belief that art and beauty transform how people think about conservation and nature, she focuses on the environment and animals that are pure and gentle by their very nature. Guadalupe’s efforts are to communicate through art the importance of animal abuse awareness, environmental issues and the relevanceof educating all generations to make conscious lifestyle decisions to protect our planet.
ARTIST | PHOTOGRAPHER | EXPLORER
NONPROFITS
Protecting over 1.6 million acres of wilderness in the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem of East Africa, Big Life partners with local communities to protect nature for the benefit of all.
Since its inception, Big Life has expanded to employ hundreds of local Maasai rangers—with more than 30 permanent outposts and tent-based field units, 14 patrol vehicles, 2 tracker dogs, and 2 planes for aerial surveillance.
Co-founded in 2010 by photographer Nick Brandt, conservationist Richard Bonham, and entrepreneur Tom Hill, Big Life was the first organization in East Africa to establish coordinated cross-border anti-poaching operations.
Today, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund is dedicated to continuing and expanding Dian’s work. We protect gorillas and their forests every day, while also helping the people who live near them.
Mountain gorillas have been monitored and studied closely since Dian Fossey began her work with them in 1967, after establishing the Karisoke Research Center. She started the process of habituating them to the presence of human observers, so that she could closely observe and document their behaviors, status, movements and other important information. Today, Fossey Fund trackers and researchers protect and study roughly half of all the mountain gorillas in Rwanda, with the other half protected by the Rwandan national park authorities.
Lewa serves as a safe refuge for the critically endangered black rhino and the endangered Grevy’s zebra, as well as the elephant, lion, giraffe, wild dog and other iconic wildlife species in Kenya. The Conservancy is also home to more than 400 species of birds.
Lewa envisions a future where people across Kenya value, protect and benefit from wildlife. This future depends on communities being able to derive their day-to-day livelihoods in ways that are compatible with thriving wildlife habitat. As a result, Lewa invests heavily in the livelihoods of its neighbours through programmes in education, healthcare, water, micro-enterprise, youth empowerment and more.
Their mission is to save giraffes from extinction so they can live freely and safely in the woodlands and savannas of their native Africa. Save Giraffes Now works with incredible conservation partners and allies across Africa and around the world in the vital work of saving giraffe in the wild NOW, and in building support for giraffe conservation.
Giraffes are sensitive, social, and friendly by nature – these iconic gentle giants may be a head above the rest, but they’re also a lot like us! Save Giraffes Now supports on-the-ground programs that take concrete action to prevent the extinction of giraffe.
Gorilla Doctors is the only organization in the world dedicated to conserving mountain and eastern lowland (Grauer's) gorillas through veterinary medicine, science and a One Health approach. The life-saving work of our veterinarians is more important than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic and we appreciate your support as we continue to protect the health of these endangered animals.
The land surrounding the national parks where gorillas live is some of the most densely populated in Africa. As a result of intense human activity near and inside the parks, gorillas face numerous threats to their survival, including poaching and habitat loss. Because gorillas share 98.5% of their genes with humans, their greatest health threat may come from human-borne infectious diseases.
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar;
I love not Man the less, but Nature more.”
— LORD BYRON
MOTION
Fine art photographer GUADALUPE LAIZ, published her first five year project 'Horses of Iceland' with Teneues in 2019. She is now inspired to work in Iceland again in the most extreme cold and rough environments of the Icelandic Winters showcasing the beautiful connection between horses and their habitat. Horses of Iceland part II is quietly and slowly taking form in the only way Guadalupe Laiz likes to work, letting things develop organically, no forcing time and simply being present. Iceland 2022.
Fine art photographer GUADALUPE LAIZ, published her first five year project 'Horses of Iceland' with Teneues in 2019. She is now inspired to work in Iceland again in the most extreme cold and rough environments of Icelandic Winter showcasing the beautiful connection between horses and their habitat. Horses of Iceland part II is quietly and slowly taking form in the only way Guadalupe Laiz like to work, letting things develop organically, no forcing time or place and simply being present. Iceland 2022
Behind the scenes, Guadalupe Laiz is working on her second book, 'Among the Living, Where You Belong', published by Images Publishing in 2023. This 588-page photography book showcases the most magnificent wildlife photography from Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, Batswana, Rwanda, and Uganda, which took over six years of traveling to Africa. Among the Living Where You Belong is Guadalupe’s need to share the beauty of what is priceless with the world.
Guadalupe Laiz is producing a short film with her long-time Icelandic friend and work partner, Thriann Kolbeinsson. She defines Kolbeinsson as Iceland's most creative and talented Icelandic videographer and photographer today, alongside the incredible Ragnar Axelsson. Thriann and Guadalupe work in one of the most isolated places on earth: Baffin Island, the fifth-largest island in the world, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. They fulfill Guadalupe's dream of becoming one with the Arctic.
PRESS
