Paola Bárcena Couttolenc

contact@paolabarcena.com IG: paolabarcena_photography www.paolabarcena.com FB: Paola Bárcena photography

RESUME

Born in Puebla, México on April 24, 1976.

Architect | Photographer | Visual Artist

Bachelor of Architecture, Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla, degree par excellence, generation 2000.

Diploma in Contemporary Art, Universidad Centro CDMX, 2024.

Trajectory

Solo Exhibitions

2025

• TRANSITAR LA IMAGEN: Sensualidad y tribalismo. Solo exhibition. Made up of 27 artworks, the exhibition invites viewers to delve into a poetic universe, where the body draws on memory and particular experiences to create unique aesthetic and artistic experiences, inviting them to immerse themselves in the multiplicity of interpretations. The work presented does not document a conventional reality, but rather the unique and unrepeatable way in which the world can be inhabited through corporeality. Museo de la Cancillería, Room 2, Mexico City, March - April 2025.

2023

• SENSATIO. Solo exhibition. Made up of 20 artworks of multiple formats - 17 photographs, 2 videos and 1 installation -. The proposal seeks to generate sensations in the viewer created from a change in perception, controlled and manipulated by the artist. Color and sounds are now elements that complement each other to achieve new polysensory processes. Second Floor, Museo de la Memoria Histórica Universitaria Puebla Museum, July - September 2023.

2021

• PERCEPTIO. Solo photography exhibition. The proposal, Made up of 11 large-format artworks, proposes a visual laboratory that questions and seeks to transcend the perception, gaze, memory and individual reality of the observer. Juan Cordero Room, Casa de la Cultura Puebla Museum, September - October 2021.

Books / Catalogs

2022

• PERCEPTIO. Commemorative book / catalog of the individual photographic exhibition held under the same name in the City of Puebla in 2021. It shows the exhibited work, in addition to the new subsequent work belonging to the series, CDMX December 2022. The book was presented in the Franz Mayer Museum, as one of the winners of the Diseña Mexico Exhibition, on September 2024.

Winner for the National Diseña México 2023 Award. Finalist Award a! Design 2022.

Collective Exhibitions

2025

• VACÍO. Collective exhibition by TM | Mexico City, Espacio T y T, Santo Tomé 4, Madrid, España, March 2025.
• TERRITORIO. Mexican Art-Object Design Fair, Plataforma ArtBase - booths 17 + 32, Espacio CDMX Arquitectura y Diseño, CDMX, Art Week Mexico City, February 2025.

2024

• XV GREAT CONTEMPORARY SALON. Collective exhibition celebrating the 15th anniversary of the La Trampa Gráfica Contemporánea workshop. La Trampa Annex, Viscaínas 21, accessory 3 and 4, Centro CDMX, December 2024.
• PARIS PHOTO. The International Art Fair for Photography, Voices sector, TM | Mexico City - booth V03, Grand Palais, Paris, November 2024.
• QIPO FAIR. International Art Fair, Plataforme ArtBase booth, Temoskali Building, Centro CDMX, Art Week México, February 2024.

2023

• TO2. Collective exhibition to help different associations through the sale of art. Aliere Restaurant, Puebla, November 2023.
• DE LA RUPTURA Y +. Collective exhibition, TLC Art Publishers, Artemis Project, Julio Verne 112, Pasaje Polanco, CDMX, May - June 2023.

2022

• SKATEART. Collective exhibition, Unvers.54 Gallery, Palacio Julio Hotel, Historic Center, Puebla, December 2022 to February 2023.
• ILUMINARTE POR EL AUTISMO. Auction to support the Iluminemos por el Autismo association, CDMX, November 2022.
• SUPERNOVA. Collective exhibition, Sophart Gallery, Polanco, CDMX, September 2022.
• PHOTOGRAPHY BIENNIAL. Group exhibition, Mombō Art Gallery Spain, Seville, Spain, April 2022.

2021

• ILUMINARTE POR EL AUTISMO. Auction to support the Iluminemos de Azul association in favor of children with autism, CDMX November 2021.
• YAUALI. Collective exhibition, Museums Night, Casa de la Cultura Teziutlán, Puebla August 2021.

2018

• LENS CULTURE PORTRAIT AWARDS. International Competition, February 2018.

2017

• EXHIBICIÓN SUBASTA COMER Y CRECER. Photography Auction in favor of children in vulnerable situations, Club de Empresarios Bosques, Bosques de las Lomas, CDMX, March 2017.

2014

• DISCURSO NO OFICIAL DEL ESPACIO. Collective exhibition, Immagini Gallery, Roma Norte, CDMX October 2014.

Other Projects

2023

• TO2 ART CATALOG. Participation in the Art Sales Catalog, along with 40 other selected artists, to benefit the associations Colectivo Voz de los Desaparecidos and Futbol para Ciegos. Puebla, November 2023.
• COLECTIVO EN TU MESA. Participation in the Collective, where 24 artists come together to create a collection of 24 artworks captured on coasters. 100% of the money raised was for the purchase of groceries to support those most in need. Puebla, October 2023.

2020

• ARTE POR DESPENSAS. Participation in the Initiative in CDMX, Guadalajara, Monterrey and Monclova, exchanging art for groceries in support of the most vulnerable in the Covid-19 pandemic, July 2020 - May 2021.
• ARTE POR DESPENSAS COORDINACIÓN NACIONAL PLATINO. Participation as National Platinum Coordinator, in addition to leading the Coordination of Mexico City. CDMX, July 2020 - May 2021.

2019

• CANADART AUCTION & ART FESTIVAL. Guest photographer in the dissemination and inclusion project of children with art. This project was carried out by the Canadian School Guadalajara to benefit the DAR Foundation and the Casa Hogar Escalar; as well as support for specific cases within the school community. Guadalajara, Jalisco February 2019.

2017

• REHACIENDO MÉXICO. Foundation of the “Rehaciendo México" initiative, an artistic proposal focused on raising funds to benefit those affected by the 2017 earthquakes in several cities in the country. The proposal was made up of 18 printed collectible photographs alluding to some of the affected States. The images were divided into three boxes of different colors, which were designed exclusively for the project. Guadalajara, Jalisco November 2017.

2014

• LO CORTÉS NO QUITA LO VALIENTE. Participation in the Book, p. 79, Editorial Ámbar Diseño, CDMX July 2014.

2013

• MEXICANISMOS Y OTROS MODISMOS. Participation in the Book, p. 232, Editorial Ámbar Diseño, CDMX September 2013.

PROFILE

Architect | Photographer | Visual Artist

Through photography, I try to encourage the viewer to experiment with perception, based on their own experiences and how they construct their memories.

My work functions as a visual laboratory that arise from the constant experimentation based on images from nature, where I seek to decontextualize and recontextualize them so that each viewer gives them a new meaning. My artwork is categorized in series, based on distinct conceptual starting points suggested by the pieces themselves. All my series are manifested through the manipulation of the viewer's sense of perception through their interaction with each of the works.

I have participated in various photography workshops and trips in Mexico City, San Miguel de Allende, Chiapas, Oaxaca, New York, Cuba, Peru, India, Bolivia, Iceland, among others, as well as in group exhibitions both domestically and internationally, and in national and international competitions.

I have had three solo exhibitions:

Perceptio. It proposes a visual laboratory that questions and seeks to transcend perception, vision, memory, and the individual reality of the observer. The exhibition is presented as a starting point and the culmination of my first stage as a photographer. [Museo Casa de la Cultura, Puebla, 2021]

The following year the commemorative book/catalogue of the exhibition was printed.

Sensatio. It seeks to generate in the viewer  sensations created from a change of perception, controlled and manipulated by an artistic vision. Color and sound are now elements that complement each other to achieve new polysensory processes. [Museo de la Memoria Histórica Universitaria, Puebla, 2023]

Transitar la Imagen: Sensualidad y tribalismo. It invites the viewer to delve into a poetic universe, where the body draws on memory and particular experiences to create unique aesthetic and artistic experiences, inviting them to immerse themselves in the multiplicity of interpretations. The work presented does not document a conventional reality, but rather the unique and unrepeatable way in which the world can be inhabited through corporeality.  [Museo de la Cancillería, CDMX, 2025]

My work has been exhibited in various venues throughout Mexico and in international forums in Spain and France, becoming part of both public and private collections.