10 Artists Whose Practice We Discovered in Portfolio Reviews in 2020

1. Marilene Riberio, Dead Water (2015 - 18). Dead Water presents a journey of the detrimental effects of hydroelectricity, telling the stories of the people who have been affected by these ventures, devastating numerous communities across Brazil. Visit Riberio's website for more about the project.

2) Mateo Arciniegas, Olvido pa’ Recordar (ongoing). The quest to find home and a lost identity underpins Mateo Arciniegas’ ongoing work Olvido pa’ Recordar - translated as 'Forget to Remember'. Born and raised in Columbia, Arcinegas moved to Tennessee in 2010 as his mother believed it would provide a better life for the family. During this time, he continued to question his new surroundings, asking “can I ever feel like I really belong here?”. Follow the artist on Instagram.

3) Paloma Tendero. Using her body as site to investigate her genetic lineage, Tendero focuses on the delicate and often precarious nature in which her body is silently compromised. Through multiple iterations of work, Tendero’s performative, sculptural photographs reveal genetic imperfections, dragging them from “the inside into the revealing light of the external view”. Visit Tendero's website and view more of her art.

4) Rocio Eslava, El nombre de mi Madre es Niebla (My Mother’s name is Mist). Following her mother’s life-altering stroke in 2016, Eslava found herself back in her hometown, embedded in a remote landscape which ended up becoming a site for healing. Eslava expresses “I feel the need to re-know my mother in this new mother-daughter relationship that has been established”. View the series and watch a short film on her website.

5) Eleana Konstantellos André, Doble Olvido. André’s project, which she hopes to develop into a photobook, speaks to structure, roles and gender bias; beginning with a series of uncanny vernacular photographs of a family holiday in 1998 that were exposed unintentionally twice, causing a faint trace of people congregating around a swimming pool. The catalyst of events that followed transformed her family dynamics – her grandmother had an accident at that swimming pool on that particular holiday causing irreparable damage to her memory. André used this moment of dislocation to begin unpicking the depictions of her Grandmother’s role as a woman within the family structure. The Photographic Museum of Humanity has a great page about the project, and you can see more on the artist's website. 

6) Mitchell Moreno, Body Copy (2019-20). In a series of constructed self-portraits, Moreno responds to texts found on gay and queer hook-up sites. Acting as stylist, set decorator and photographer, Moreno explores how queer masculinities are performative, codified and unstable constructions, rooted in material and digital cultures. Artist's website.

7) Gisela Torres, Looking for Edmonia (Self-portrait). In this multifaceted body of work, Gisela Torres proposes an uncanny dialogue with the 19th century sculptress Mary Edmonia Lewis. Through a series of prints, film and ready-mades, she explores the life and work of Edmonia with whom she found many affinities: from her heritage, creative aspirations and her global journey across several continents. Torres wanted to channel the spirit of Edmonia by merging historical technologies and 3D printing to transcend space and time. The resulting works are mesmerising. See more of Torres' work on her Instagram.

8) Simona Ciocarlan, They Danced in a Different Way. Interested in the ancestral rituals, customs and folk textile techniques preserved and practiced by many communities across Romania underpins this long-term body of work by Simona Ciocarlan. For Ciocarlan, the objects that are produced are regarded as an interplay between invention, innovation and ancient heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, acting as symbols produced over centuries of cultural exchange. Artist's website. 

9) David Uzochukwu, Mare Monstrom / Drown In My Magic (ongoing). In an ongoing series of works that questions the fragility and strength of the body, Uzochukwu’s surreal, fantastical images are captivating. He contorts, distorts and morphs the body situating it in a landscape which is seen as a refuge, a cocoon, the most vulnerable and also the strongest of bodies. Each composition questions ideas of masculinity, driven by the pursuit of resilience and placelessness. See the portfolio on his website. 

10) Mar Saez, Gabriel (2012-16). This extended visual portrait focuses on the transition of Gabriel over a number of years, capturing a physical transition of his body and also the landscape in which he surrounds himself in. By bringing together aspects of Gabriel’s journal, visual images and family photographs in one space, this evocative portrait bears witness to a body that is resilient and a journey of change. Saez has the project on her website, and at Futures Photography.