Cholita Mona Lisa: Bolivian artist gives famed portrait indigenous makeover

Callizaya works on cholita-style Mona Lisa painting at the El Alto Public University in El Alto, Bolivia. Photo: Reuters

High in Bolivia's Andean mountains, surrounded by small thatched roofed houses and sheep, Claudia Callizaya, 32, makes the final brushstroke to her newest piece of art: a take on the "Mona Lisa" as a local indigenous cholita woman.

Her adaptation has the same steady gaze as in Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece portrait and a similar nose. But on her head is the traditional bowler hat of Bolivia's cholitas and she is wrapped in a colorful Andean shawl.