Carmela García (Lanzarote, 1964) has been awarded the 2025 National Photography Prize, at the proposal of the jury meeting this Monday. The prize, awarded by the Ministry of Culture, is worth 30,000 euros.
The jury highlighted the artist’s work because “it transforms and questions social imaginaries, making visible realities that have remained on the margins.” from a gender perspective and queer“.
Furthermore, the jury has pointed out that the artist “recontextualizes photography using very contemporary languages where video, installations, collage and the use of archive photography are also mixed.
In its last edition, the award recognized Jorge Ribalta, joining a long list of winners, among whom are Laia Abril, Cristóbal Hara, Pilar Aymerich, Ana Teresa Ortega Aznar, Montserrat Soto and Leopoldo Pomés, among others.
García’s work focuses on the need to reevaluate the construction of history. Her work retells the stories that have shaped the collective imagination and reviews them on a formal and iconic level from a gender perspective.
Carmela García. Foto: Wikipedia.
García aborda el mundo femenino y la recuperación de genealogías y explora las relaciones entre mujeres en todos los ámbitos.
El origen de su obra, si bien conceptualmente arraigada en la subjetividad y la perspectiva femenina, se traduce en una exploración sistemática de lenguajes visuales específicos.
El eje central de su propuesta es la doble necesidad de repensar y cambiar el mundo. Para ello, recurre a una amplia gama de medios: desde la fotografía analógica y digital hasta la exploración del vídeo, la instalación y las prácticas híbridas.
Su obra ha sido expuesta en museos como el Reina Sofía, CAAM, MUSAC, IVAM, etc.), USA (PS1 MoMA), Japón, Paris, Ámsterdam, etc.
Entre 1998 y 2015 estuvo representada por la galería Juana de Aizpuru en Madrid. Ha participado en ferias internacionales de primer nivel como Art Bassel, Arco Madrid, Paris Photo y Frieze.
In 2021, the Sala Canal de Isabel II hosted a retrospective of the photographer, paying tribute to the female genealogy in art and the complicity between women and presenting a monumental installation inspired by Paloma Navares, as well as pieces dedicated to historical figures such as Hildegard von Bingen, Eleanor Raymond and Mária Telkes.
The exhibition covered García’s career and exhibited his iconic series, from Girls, desires and fiction until Paradiseswith photographs and videos that celebrate the lesbian community and they explore utopia, anonymity and feminist demands.
Through appropriationism, recreations and documentaryism, the artist revisits the history of women in culture, creating new icons and defending a more just and egalitarian society.