(works in progress)
This immersive installation is the first of this body of work that interrogates the value and legacy of documentary photography through a radical act of transformation. For over a decade, I worked as a photographer, generating thousands of images that now sit archived and largely unseen. This work questions their relevance and asks: what happens when we confront the entirety of our creative labor, not as isolated artifacts, but as a single, living organism? I wish to begin with this series because it is the act of transformation needed into making this transition.
In a constructed darkroom environment, I will nail thousands of these photographs directly to the walls—layered, unordered, and overwhelming. Over them, I will apply a layer of raw clay sourced from the quarry near my mother’s village, forming a metaphorical veil or burial shroud. As the clay dries and cracks over time, the images will begin to resurface, exposing the material and symbolic interplay between concealment and revelation.
This process culminates in a durational performance: a 24-hour ritual in which I inhabit the space in solitude, covered in clay, engaging in spoken reflections with individual photographs—examining their technical, emotional, and contextual dimensions. This will be filmed and edited into a high-definition video piece. A limited series of photographic collages, developed from the performance, will accompany the installation. The work draws from indigenous vision quests, spiritual rites, and psycho-emotional endurance, forming a statement on artistic memory, mortality, and the reanimation of personal archives.
In the enlace one can view an example of my images that I have ensayado on the walls of my studio as I have already begun to research the photographs out of my archive.
This series is the question, statement and work that will lead me into the next two.
This series explores the imprinting of landscapes—literal and metaphorical—onto ceramic forms, a group of works that carry me into next necessary stage creating individual objects of new importance. Photographic images of local rivers, flora, fauna, and geological formations from the Sierra del Segura are first rendered in three-dimensional linoleum carvings. These reliefs are then pressed into clay slabs, dried, and fired initially in an electric kiln for structural integrity.
The final transformation takes place in an Anagama wood kiln, where smoke and combustion leave unpredictable tonal markings across the surface, merging image and material in a process of elemental collaboration. Each ceramic photograph carries the residue of fire, wind, ash, and earth—serving as fossil-like testaments to the environment they depict. This series acts as a bridge between photographic index and ceramic artifact, blurring distinctions between representation and presence, nature and artifice.
The project at Los Gabrieles marks a pivotal moment in my artistic journey, where history, personal narrative, and ecofeminist principles intertwine in a contemporary ceramic installation. Invited to create a mural for the curved ceiling and two circular pieces for a private bodega, I delved into the ritual of clay work, sourcing wild clay from Galicia due to local material limitations. The mural—featuring a floating holy cow, amoebas, rhinos, and other symbolic imagery—reflects themes of natural energy, identity, and the absurdities of life. The hand-crafted tiles and ceramic circles are imbued with my personal history, echoing a deep connection to my heritage and the ongoing evolution of Los Gabrieles. This project is more than an artwork; it’s a spiritual and metaphysical offering, blending tradition, contemporary vision, and the imperfections that give life its texture.
