The Living Oceans
Founded in 2004 with a single conviction: that people protect what they love, and they love what they can see. Over two decades, The Living Oceans has brought the ocean — its beauty, its fragility, its urgency — to audiences around the world through photography, books, and exhibitions. Because you cannot protect what you cannot see.
22
3
books published
years protecting the oceans
20
World-renowned photographers
10
Exhibitions across South America, North America & Asia
Punta San Juan
2023 · Peru · Chicago
Seven years of fieldwork at Peru's most important marine reserve became an outdoor exhibition that traveled across Peru, reaching hundreds of thousands of visitors in venues large and small. The show was accompanied by the launch of Punta San Juan, a coffee table book documenting the wildlife, the scientists, and the communities that protect this extraordinary place. The same images then found a permanent home at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, where 32 prints are installed on the exterior of The Living Coast — a conservation story now living on two continents.
The book
The exhibition was accompanied by the launch of Punta San Juan — a 250-page coffee table book documenting seven years of fieldwork at the reserve.
Fragile
World Oceans Day
2015 · Guayaquil, Ecuador
Six months after Lima, Frágil traveled to Guayaquil for World Oceans Day — in partnership with the Government of Ecuador, the Ministry of the Environment, and the Galápagos Special Regime. The exhibition was accompanied by a photography conference, a film screening, and educational events for schools. Over the course of the week, the ocean reached audiences who had never seen it this close.
Fragile-Oceans Expo III
2014 · United Nations Climate Conference, Lima-Perú
In December 2014, Lima hosted the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP20. The Living Oceans brought Frágil — an exhibition of 100 large-format underwater images by 14 photographers from around the world — to the city's cultural center.
The book
The exhibition was accompanied by the launch of Frágil — a 270-page limited edition coffee table book selected as the presidential gift of the Peruvian government to heads of state and delegation officers at the summit. All proceeds go directly to ocean conservation through The Living Oceans.
Oceans Expo II
2006 · Lima-Perú
Fourteen photographers. More than 130 large-format images. Oceans Expo II expanded the vision of the first — gathering some of the most celebrated names in underwater photography, including David Doubilet, Mauricio Handler and Stephen Frink, for a show that ran for over six weeks at ICPNA's Galería Germán Krüger Espantoso in Lima.
The book
The exhibition was accompanied by the launch of Oceans — A World to Discover, a coffee table book bringing together the work of fourteen of the world's most celebrated underwater photographers. The book won the FADIS 2007 award for best editorial design. The edition is sold out and will not be reprinted.
Oceans Expo
2005 · Lima· Singapore
Six photographers. Six visions of the same ocean. Oceans Expo I was The Living Oceans' first major exhibition — a gathering of international underwater photographers brought together under one conviction: that seeing the ocean is the first step toward protecting it. From Lima's El Ojo Ajeno Gallery to Singapore's Suntec Convention Center at the Celebrate the Sea Festival, the show traveled across two continents and introduced thousands of people to a world most will never dive into.
4 Kids
Ongoing · Schools across Peru and beyond
Conservation begins with children. Since 2012, The Living Oceans has taken the ocean directly into classrooms — through photographs, illustrations, stories, and science. Bernardo and Valerie have visited dozens of schools, presenting the underwater world to children who respond with drawings, questions, and wonder. The goal is not to teach facts. It is to create a relationship — between a child and a living ocean — that lasts a lifetime.
The Protectors
Twenty of the world's most celebrated underwater photographers have united under The Living Oceans — contributing their images, their voice, and their work to a single mission: protecting the ocean through visual storytelling.
David Doubilet · Paul Nicklen · Cristina Mittermeier · José Alejandro Álvarez · Michael Aw · Franco Banfi · Stephen Frink · Jennifer Hayes · Rod Klein · Mauricio Handler · David Hall · Octavio Aburto · Amos Nachoum · Wallace J. Nichols · Tim Rock · Bernardo Sambra · Brian Skerry · James D. Watt · Michele Westmorland Stephen Wong · Mirko Zanni · Fabien Cousteau
Our Team
Our Partners
Mission Blue · UNDP · Chicago Zoological Society · SeaLegacy · ICPNA · Proyecto Punta San Juan · Epson · Antalis · SERNANP · Philips · BCP · Prima AFP · Clear Channel Outdoor · Marcobre · Minsur · Municipalidad de Lima · Taller de la Fotografía Profesional · Pacífico Adventures · Spondylus · Mohawk · Icono Comunicadores · Municipalidad de Miraflores · Universidad de Lima · Universidad Cayetano Heredia