Almudena Romero first solo show at TOBE Gallery in Budapest.

 

Almudena Romero: Studies on my grandma’s garden | The Pigment Change
October 19 - November 26, 2022
The exhibition is part of the official program of the Hungarian Month of Photography FOTÓHÓNAP 2022
TOBE Gallery, Budapest

 

Studies On My Grandma's Garden series of photographic artworks are the result of Almudena's years-long research on photographic processes naturally occurring in leaves and flowers such as photobleaching and photosynthesis. Using her grandma's garden as a research and production centre, Almudena identified thirty different plants and flowers in the garden to create photographic artwork, and to develop a scientific, artistic, philosophical and intimate reflection on photography, legacy and sustainability.
These plant-photographs fossilised in bio-resin refer to an aesthetic of fragility and disappearance that explores the intangible legacy of Almudena's grandmother on her but also the use of photographic art for self-expression rather than for documentation and archiving purposes. The artworks explore questions on production and legacy, which are central to the current environmental crisis, as well as central to the art industry.
Studies On My Grandma's Garden photographic prints are made by the bleaching action of sunlight on the chlorophyll pigments of a plant leaf. The pigments are bleached to various degrees rendering a photographic print on a monochrome green-scale. The process doesn’t require any additional chemistry or inks. These leaf prints depict images of Almudena's hand gestures while producing artwork. Each leaf's unique chemistry renders a print with different tonalities and contrast, making the image printed on the leaf sometimes more visible and other times more imperceptible, as such is the often invisible feminine labour that goes into growing families and gardens.

Almudena Romero (b. in Madrid in 1986) is a British/Spanish visual artist based in London and Valencia. Her practice uses photographic processes to reflect on issues relating to identity, representation and ideology. Romero’s works focus on how perception affects existence and how photography contributes to organising perception.
Romero’s practice has been exhibited at international public institutions including the Victoria and Albert Museum (UK), National Portrait Gallery (UK), TATE Modern-TATE Exchange (UK), The Photographers’ Gallery (UK), Tsinghua Art Museum (CN), Le Cent-Quatre Paris (FR), University of the Arts London (UK) and international photography festivals such as Unseen Amsterdam (NL), Les Rencontres d’Arles (FR), Paris Photo (FR), PhotoLondon (UK), Circulations (FR), Belfast Photo Festival (UK) and Brighton Photo Biennale (UK). She has received grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Creative Europe Fund, Arts Council England (2018, 2020,2021), London Community Foundation (2019),
a-n Artits Bursaries (2019, 2018), and awards from private foundations such as the Richard and Siobhán Coward Foundation, The Harnisch Foundation and BMW France Culture.
Romero was nominated for the Prix Pictet in 2021, and has been awarded prestigious international residencies at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (China), Penumbra Foundation (USA), ISCP New York(US), BMW -Gobelins (France), Lucy Art Residency (Greece), Whitechapel Gallery(UK) and National Portrait Gallery (UK).
Romero has received public art commissions from Wellcome Trust, Emergency Exit Artist, Team London Bridge, Southwark Council and Bow Arts Trust for the London Festival of Architecture. Her practice has been published in monographs by the Photography Archive and Research Centre at the University of the Arts London and by Fisheye (upcoming) and featured in BBC Four, BBC Two, FOAM Magazine, EL PAIS, Liberation, VOGUE, Radio France Internationale and other international media.
Romero holds an MA in Photography from the University of the Arts London and a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice in Art, Design and Communication (university teaching qualifications). She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has delivered courses, lectures and talks at universities, museums, and institutions internationally, including: Stanford University in Florence (IT), School of Visual Arts New York (NY), GOBELINS Ecole de l'image (FR), IESA (FR), KASK, School of Arts Ghent (BE), Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (CH), Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (HU), Chelsea College of Arts (UK), University College London (UK), Falmouth University (UK), University for the Creative Arts (UK), University of Westminster (UK), Camberwell College of Arts (UK), London College of Communication (UK), Kingston School of Art (UK), Southampton Solent University (UK), Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum (JP), Sotheby's Institute of Art (UK), Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), Royal Society (UK), Estorick Collection (UK), Wellcome Trust (UK) Victoria and Albert Museum (UK), Science Museum (UK), National Portrait Gallery (UK), South London Gallery (UK), Whitechapel Gallery (UK), The Photographers' Gallery (UK), TATE Modern (UK), TATE Britain (UK), Fundacion Mapfre Cultura (SP), Guest Projects (Yinka Shonibare studio- UK), Les Nuits de la photographie-Les Rencontres d'Arles (FR), Penumbra Foundation (US), PhotoForum FORMAT Festival (UK), Nunnery Gallery, Bow Arts (UK), Golden Thread Gallery- Belfast Photo Festival (UK), Lucy Art Residency (GR), London Art Fair (UK), [ SPACE ] (UK), TOMA Metal Art School ( UK), Four Corners Gallery (UK), Photofusion (UK) and Photography Archive and Research Centre at UAL (UK).