SOFIA ARANDA

Full Name: Sofia Lucía Aranda
Born: 1997, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Current Base: Madrid, Spain


Education:

  • BA in Visual Arts, Universidad Nacional de las Artes, Buenos Aires (2018)

  • MFA in Photography & Critical Image Studies, Escuela de Arte y Superior de Diseño, Madrid (2021)

Specialisation:
Sofia Aranda is a visual artist working primarily in conceptual portraiture and expanded photography. Her practice focuses on the tensions between concealment and revelation — what is shown versus what is hidden. Using stark black-and-white photography, layered symbolism, and performative gestures, she examines themes of identity, femininity, and surveillance. Her recurring motifs of hands, rings, and gaze highlight the fragility and strength of self-representation in an era of hyper-visibility.

Exhibitions & Residencies:

  • Covered / Uncovered, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga (2019)

  • Residency at Hangar, Barcelona (2020)

  • The Gaze Interrupted, PhotoEspaña Festival, Madrid (2022)

  • Group show Disobedient Bodies, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2023)

Critical Themes:

  • The aesthetics of hiding and revealing in portraiture

  • Jewelry and ornament as markers of memory, intimacy, and lineage

  • Feminine subjectivity in relation to digital exposure and self-curation

  • The body as both shield and language

Publications & Recognition:

  • Featured in Foam Talent Call 2022 longlist

  • Work published in Aperture Magazine’s Emerging Voices issue (2023)

  • Recipient of the Fundación Mapfre Young Photographer Award (2023)

Current Work:
Aranda is currently developing a project titled Unseen Rituals, a series exploring intergenerational memory through staged portraits of women in her family, interwoven with archival jewelry and fragmented gestures of concealment.

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