Alejandra Laviada

Born in 1980 in Mexico City, Mexico
Lives and works in Mexico City, Mexico

Since 2005 I’ve been working with several specific buildings in the historical center of Mexico City. Most of these buildings are in the process of being demolished or redeveloped. I use the sites as a temporary studio and photograph my interventions in each space. I’m very interested in the cycles of decay and rebirth that characterize the city, and my process is a sort of urban archeology of these abandoned sites. In each project, I’m interested in redefining photography’s role and relationship to other artistic media, and my images often rise from the boundaries and intersections between the two. I like to create photographic work that can be sculptural and painterly, without losing the technical and formal qualities of a photograph. I started my career as a painter, and that greatly influenced my creative process and thinking. I look for ways of ‘constructing’ an image, and not simply documenting what is already there. In the process, each space and object become a blank canvas on which to draw different representations.

Recent exhibitions
2015 – Develar y detonar: Photography in Mexico ca 2015 – Centro Cibeles, Madrid, Photo Espana Festival
2015 – Premios Descubrimientos PHE 1998-2014 – Matadero Madrid, Photo Espana Festival
2015 – Existe lo que tiene nombre: Contemporary Photography in Mexico, Camera Work, San Francisco

Solo Exhibitions
2014 – Geometry of Space – Alarcon-Criado Gallery, Seville, Spain
2014 – Geometry of Space – FIAC Officielle, Benadana-Pinel Gallery
2013 – Photo Sculptures – Blue Sky Galleru, Portland, Oregon
2012 – De-Constructions – Guatephoto, Guatemala City
2011 – Re-Constructions – Galerie Bendana-Pinel, Paris
2010 – Descubrimientos: Alejandra Laviada – Photo España Festival, Madrid, Spain
2010 – Abstractions – Museo Experimental El Eco, Mexico City
2010 – Alejandra Laviada – Galería Full Art, Seville, Spain
2008 – Photo Sculptures – Danziger Projects, New York City

Group Exhibitions
2014 – (un)real – Maddox Arts Gallery, London
2014 – Landmark – Julie Saul Gallery, NY
2014 – Du Sud au Nord – Bendana-Pinel Art Contemporain
2013 – Umbrales 1,5 – Fotograma Festival, Museo de America, Madrid, Spain
2012 – Second Nature: Abstract Photography Then and Now – De Cordova Museum, MA
2011 – Across the Divide: Critical Mass 2010 (Traveling Exhibition)
2010 – XIV Bienal de Fotografía – Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City
2009 – Hyeres Photography Festival – Villa Noailles, Hyeres, France
2008 – Chisel – curated by Kathy Ryan, New York Photo Festival, New York City