Artist
Laura C. Vela
Laura C. Vela’s work focuses on the everyday, the infinitely small, and the relationship human beings share with their surroundings. She perceives photography as a way of placing herself in the world and a means of communicating with others.
She published her first book, 'Vorhandenheit', in 2014, which was reissued in 2020. In 2016 she collaborated on 'Subculturcide', a book about Madrid during the 2010s. She was a selected artist at Plat(t)form 2018 (Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland) and in May 2019 she published her first photo book, 'Como la casa mía', with the publishing house Dalpine, Shortlisted for PhotoEspaña Best Book of the Year Award 2020. In July 2020 she edited and published 'Las simples cosas', a collective photo book. In 2022, she published 'Siempre van solos, los bichos', a transmedia project (book and web format). Since november 2020, she directed the book collection 'Esto es un cuerpo'.
Laura is a Superior Technician of Plastic Arts and Design in Photography (Arte 10 School, Madrid). Laura graduated in Philosophy (Universidad Complutense, Madrid) and she won the BlankPaper scholarship to study a Master’s in Development of Artistic Projects. She also has a Diploma in Chinese Studies (International Institute of International Studies, UCM, Madrid).
Como la casa mia
Como la casa mía [Like My Own House] portrays the encounter between Xirou Xiao and photographer Laura C. Vela, two young women from different cultures who live in the same city and share the same desire: to find their place and create a home.
The project is a drift towards the inner self of the protagonist, a Chinese migrant. For three and a half years, Laura accompanies Xirou in her search for a way of being in the world, hence creating an identity in constant adjustment. Acknowledgement of a new context, receptiveness and serenity become the pillars of the personal search and intercultural friendship that they establish together―a refuge they would like to expand, thus building the universal from the particular.
“The photographs’ tight framing reveals little about the places they depict, but emphasizes these places’ atmosphere, or what it felt like to look at them. Mostly, however, we see photographs of Xiao – inside and outside: at home or on the street, sitting in a car, leaning against a wall, and walking in a yard. Her varying clothing indicates the changing seasons; her hair grows with the progression of time. Many of these images live from Xiao’s extraordinary face – her exalted or withdrawn expressions; and her gestures, such as the graceful movements of her hands. There is an affect and bodily awareness to them that might suggest a performance for the camera, but it isn’t really, because it has little to do with acting and everything with the slowly evolving collaboration, and friendship, between Vela and Xiao. What we witness, then, within these atmospheric color photographs, is the portrayal of an internal landscape that reveals itself through small gestures – that C. Vela captured with an attuned eye: whether it is the fine lines of a smile, the way to lace a shoe, or an oblivious flicking the tongue while perusing supermarket shelves.
There are only a few photobooks, though, that have brought me, repeatedly, to the verge of tears. ‘Como la casa mía’ is one of them.”
Sabrina Mandanici, Collector daily
https://collectordaily.com/laura-c-vela-como-la-casa-mia/
Ignacio Navas draws from everyday life to explore the political, social and personal structures that comprise us. His project is a critique on the capitalist system, and the
instances of micro-violence that define it.
With her Paul project, Cristina Galán suggests the subversion of identity and something sinister under the visually-polished surfaces of reality. Figures suspended in
time appear in an idealised but impersonal world, representing the clichéd spaces of consumer society.
A disturbing feeling also permeates Felipe Romero Beltrán’s Dialect project, which saw the artist recreate the everyday lives of a group of Moroccan youngsters, as they await a future beyond an immigrant centre in Seville.
In Como la casa mía Laura C. Vela accompanies Xirou, a Chinese immigrant woman, in her search for a way of being in the world. The work is both an exploration of the main character’s inner world and a significant photographic encounter between two women.
Finally, Lorena Morin reflects on family life through intimate images of her partner, herself and their children. Captured in shared domestic spaces, her photographic diary reflects 15 years of familial love and unbreakable bonds.