My work delves into the intricate layers of gendered family dynamics within the context of postwar, dictatorship-era Spain. I want to address themes of inherited pain, memory, loss of innocence, and the preservation of untold stories. It is a process of reclamation rooted in a desire to uphold the structures of feminine resilience.
The point of departure touches the unsaid, the suppressed, the broken, which relates to a past that is often inaccessible, one that can only be recalled through mechanisms of fiction. Fragmented memories are gathered and transmitted through several sources, sliding from surface to surface, sometimes tactile, sometimes fugitive.
Through black and white photographs; handmade glasswork that folds and wrinkles; printmade pieces of traces, and steel sculptures that engage symbolic elements of the Spanish landscape; I aim to craft an imaginary realm in which new possibilities of being can emerge.
Explorations in archives, conversations with relatives about their pasts, memories with my grandmothers, and personal experiences lead the work towards a set of sensorial experiments across disciplines. The results involve a (re)performance of activities that attempt to break the linearity of time, and that use play to question the rules of engagement in certain situations.
An intimate dialogue between force and care is mediated through the pieces; sometimes rusted, sometimes reflective, sometimes fragile, sometimes resistant. Its encounter aims to be an invitation to rethink past lives in terms of agency and identity.
Ultimately, the work answers a desire to shorten the distance between matrilineal figures of my family, to preserve their structures of placemaking, and to heal what marked both my ancestors, and my childhood self.
Grants, awards and selections
2023 - Lenscratch Student Prize Honorable Mention - “La balsa”
2023 - RISD Commons Grant - “La balsa”
2023 - EIC 3 Encuentro Internacional de Cine (Mexico) - Selected - “Pretty” (short)
2022 - DewPoint at “The Humid” (Atlanta, Georgia, US) - Selected for a collective video presentation
2022 - Prague International Indie Film Festival - Selected 4th QTR - “Pretty” (short)
2022 - Educant la mirada (Platja d’Aro, Catalonia, Spain) - 1st prize
2022 - Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival - Semi-Finalist - “Pretty” (short)
2021 - Clic BCN Intercultural - 1st prize, "Asylum with female name"
2021 - La Caixa Foundation Fellowships
2021 - ICP Director's Fellowship
2021 - Ituango Cinema Festival - Nominated, "Berracas" (documentary)
2021 - Journalism Award María Luz Morales IV - Accession, "'Block' al masclisme" (collective video report)
2021 - Autonomous University Solidarity Foundation Global Justice Cooperation Grants - "Berracas" (exhibition)
2020 - Autonomous University of Barcelona - Special Merit Award for Bachelor's Degree
2020 - Clic BCN Intercultural - Nominee, "Bicitaxis: pedalar el caos del turisme"
2019 - International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP) Research Fellowship - Women victims-survivors of the armed conflict in Colombia: a model of forgiveness, empowerment and national reconciliation (its journalistic result named "Berracas")
2019 - Santander Bank International Mobility Fellowship
2019 - Docs Cooperants Fellowship - "En Clau de Volta" (audiovisual reports about alternatives projects in society)
2015 - La Pedrera Foundation Academic Merit Award
Exhibitions
2023 - “La balsa” at The Space in Between (collective exhibition) at the RISD Old Library (Providence, Rhode Island, US)
2023- “La balsa” at Field work (collective exhibition) at the Red Eye Gallery from RISD (Providence, Rhode Island, US)
2023 - “Pretty” at Rotterdam Photo Fest - Single Images (Rotterdam, Netherlands)
2023 - “La balsa” at Go Thither (collective exhibition) at the Gelman Gallery from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum (Providence, Rhode Island, US)
2022 - “Pretty” at Masia Can Bas for the contest Educant La Mirada (Platja d’Aro, Catalona, Spain)
2022 - “Pretty” for the XVIII LGTBIQA+ photo contest (collective exhibition) of “Grup d’Amics Gais, Lesbianes, Transsexuals i Bisexuals” (GAG) (Barcelona)
2022 - “La Balsa” for Im Nebel (collective exhibition) at Red Eye Gallery in RISD (Providence, Rhode Island, US)
2022 - “Pretty” for Shifting Selves (collective exhibition) at the International Center of Photography (New York)
2021 - "Berracas" at Canòdrom (Barcelona)
2021 - "Berracas" at La Model (Barcelona)
2021 - "Berracas" at Guinardó Community Center for Stripart Festival (Barcelona)
2020 - “Chronicle of a social outbreak” at Güell Atelier Gallery (Barcelona)
2020 - “Chronicle of a social outbreak” at Lina Òdena Community Center (Barcelona)
Screenings
2021 - "Berracas": Canòdrom (Barcelona), La Model (Barcelona), Stripart Festival (Barcelona), International Amnesty (Vilafranca del Penedès, Barcelona), "Latituds" Public television program (Catalonia), Zumzeig Cinema (Barcelona), Filmoteca Cinema (Barcelona), Autonomous University of Barcelona (Barcelona), International Peace University (Sant Cugat, Barcelona), Agora Juan Andrés Benítez (Barcelona), Can Batlló Community Center (Barcelona), Cinètika Cinema (Barcelona), Old Market Auditorium Theater (Ripollet, Barcelona), Community Center Can Sanpere (Premià de Mar, Barcelona), Tolima University (Tolima, Colombia)
Publications
2023 - “Balls per reivindicar identitats LGTBIQ+”, diari Ara (Catalonia, Spain) - Text and Images
2022 - Ballroom scene and chosen families, Form Magazine (Germany) - Images
2021 - “No he venido acá para que me regalen nada. Tengo brazos, piernas, inteligencia y vitalidad”. “Asylum” report in Ctxt Magazine (Spain) - Text and images
2021 - “Reparar lo que ellos devastaron”. “Berracas” report in El Salto (Spain) - Text and images
2020 - “‘Block’ al masclisme” at La Directa (Catalonia, Spain)
2020 - “Bicitaxis: pedalar el caos del turismo”, Deriva (Spain) - Text and images
2020 - “Massin Akandouch, activismo, desobediencia y ‘likes’”, Deriva (Spain) - Images
2020 - “Queralt Guinart, el arte útil y las bolleras de pueblo”, Deriva (Spain) - Images
2019 - “Xile, en estat d’emergència”. “Chronicle of a social outbreak”images at La Directa (Catalonia, Spain) - Text and Images
Catalogs/Book contributions
2023 - “Pretty” on Edited, a collaboration between ICP and the Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie (Germany)
2022 - “Pretty” in Shift, ICP student catalog publication (NY).
2021 - “Berracas”, Catalog of Stripart Festival (Barcelona).
2021 - “Mujeres en pie de paz: exclusión y memoria de las mujeres víctimas del conflicto armado desde sus territorios”, Collective book chapter inside “30 años de la Constitución de 1991: avances y desafíos en la Construcción de Nación”, Institución Universitaria Politécnico Grancolombiano (Colombia).
2018 - “Querer es poder. Las redes sociales y el movimiento social ambientalista”, Collective book chapter inside “Para qué sirve Internet: 8 ensayos críticos para el uso de redes sociales” , Uno Editorial (Spain).
Professional experience
2023 - Teacher Assistant for John Willis at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)
2022 - Teacher Assistant for Laine Rettmer at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)
2021 (NYC) - Teacher Assistant for Community Programs at the International Center of Photography (tamara suarez porras, Corey Torpie, Roy Baizan)
2021 (Before NYC) - Freelance writer, photojournalist and videographer at the journals El Salto (from 2021), Deriva (2020), La Marea (2020), Situaciones (2019), Catalunya Plural (2018), La Directa (2018), El Jardí (2015).
2021 (Before NYC) - "Berracas" research program, about women victims-survivors of the Colombian armed conflict, published in November 2020. Co-director of its documentary and curator of the exhibits.
2019 - Freelance writer and photographer for the music magazine La Tornada and Eargasm (2017).
2019 - Intern in the news radio program "El Món" at RAC1.
2019 - Presenter and technician of the entertainment radio program "Incòmodes" at UABràdio (2016).
2018 - Journalist from the program "Blog Europa" for the catalan tv channel TV3 from Prague.
Education
2022 (ongoing) - Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Photography at RISD
2022 - XXXV Eddie Adams Workshop
2022 - International Center of Photography. One-Year Certificate Program in Documentary Practices and Visual Journalism.
2021- El Observatorio: Author Documentary course.
2021 - Espai d'arts Rocaumbert. Workshop "The (de)colonization of image".
2020 - Autonomous University of Barcelona. Bachelor of Journalism. Semester abroad at Universidad de Santiago de Chile (2019) and at Charles University in Prague (2018).
2018 - Center Pati Llimona. Documentary photography course.
Languages: English, French, Spanish, Catalan