Juan Luis Tufano Rodriguez, also known as just “Rui”, was born in Caracas, Venezuela on the 18th of February, 1999. He’s currently based in Malmö, Sweden.

Inspired by his father's closeness with the medium, he first approached photography at the age of sixteen, taking pictures during high school hours while hiding from his teachers, — bringing a camera to school was prohibited at the time.

After graduation, he studied filmmaking for two semesters at «Escuela Nacional de Cine» (Caracas, Venezuela), focusing mainly on cinematography. Tufano later decides to dedicate himself to photography rather than film.

After four years of studies, he graduates with honours as a professional photographer at the «Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Fotográficos» (Caracas, Venezuela). Tufano specializes in fine arts photography, as well as portrait photography, research and philosophy of photography.

He has developed numerous photo series that have been exhibited inside and outside of his home country. The most notorious are in galleries such as:

• «Fundación Sala Mendoza» (Caracas, Venezuela),

• «Galería Tresy3» (Caracas, Venezuela),

• «Sala Pedro León Zapata» (San Antonio, Venezuela)

• «Casa de la Cultura Rebelde» (Quito, Ecuador).

In March 2022, he created “The Le Gras Club”, a digital space dedicated to the investigation, development and exhibition of photography in an attempt to make a haven for photographers in Venezuela who’d like to exhibit their work without the fear of censorship. Also, The Le Gras Club served as a way to bring Venezuelan authors closers to the works and experiences of International Artists, thus opening doors between photographers from around the world and bringing awareness of the quality of the Venezuelan artistic field. Several events, talks and digital exhibitions took place before the club ceased it’s opperations due to the hardship of the venezuelan situation.

Tufano was later offered the position of Director of Culture at «Instituto Ciao Italia» in Los Teques, Venezuela. He played this role from 2023 to 2024, during which time two exhibitions took place inside the Institute's walls.

As an author, Tufano finds inspiration and joy in his research in Asian aesthetics and philosophy, specifically Japanese concepts such as Wabi-Sabi, Mono no Aware, and Ma. These three being the foundation of his investigations and the projects he has worked on since he first encounter them back in 2018.