Almudena Romero

Artista, MIA Fair 2023 @ TOBE Gallery

Almudena Romero, Studies on my grandma's garden. Taro Hand, 2022

Courtesy: TOBE Gallery

Fotografia stampata su foglia di Taro, fusa in bio-resina fossile
Photograph printed on Taro leaf, casted in bio resin fossil
Dimensioni / Size: 55 x 40 cm
Edizione / Edition: 1/1
Prezzo / Price: 7620 €

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

Spagna / Regno Unito @ Spain / United Kingdom
https://www.almudenaromero.co.uk/

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 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. 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’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 (CH), 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).