Artist
Mónica Egido
Mónica Egido (b. 1994) has a background in physiotherapy. She is currently a student of the PHotoESPAÑA Master in Photographic Projects, led by Semíramis González. As well as several solo shows, she has exhibited her work in group presentations at Sara Caso Gallery, Madrid; Abartium Gallery, Barcelona; The Holy Art Gallery, London; and El Brocense Art Gallery, Cáceres. Her images have been published by the likes of Vogue Italia and FLAMANTES.
F O M O
The development of my project arises from a need to expose myself to the things that terrify me: the silence of being with myself, listening only to my thoughts, and the stillness of my body in a space of immensity. It’s about changing my relationship with time – and with myself, mentally and physically – forcing me to stop and observe myself naked through the camera.
In my physiotherapy practice, I have many patients who suffer pain, digestive problems or sleep disturbances; often, these symptoms are the result of high levels of stress and anxiety maintained over time. 3 years ago, I myself was diagnosed with FOMO (fear of missing out), so I felt the need to chart my progress, and follow my changing relationship with myself. The project became a form of self-therapy, accompanied by parallel research on the human relationship with time – informed by various humanistic and metaphysical points of view.
It results in a critique of productivism – omnipresent in a capitalist society like ours – which forces us to keep working, watching, reading and producing. These impulses leave little room for valuable rest; when we stop, we feel that we are somehow left behind, which can in turn lead to anxiety.
Similarly, the five contemporary photographers PHotoESPAÑA is nominating for FUTURES this year are developing work that stands out on today’s scene, offering five different yet complementary perspectives that provide an overview of contemporary practices, ranging from documentary (Umberto Diecinove) to a type of expanded photography that incorporates performance (Monica Egido), to work with the photobook format (Irene Zottola) and conceptual photography (Laura San Segundo and Rita Puig-Serra Costa). In 2022, PHotoESPAÑA closely tracked these artists’ progress.
In her project Ícaro, published as a photo book in 2022, Irene Zottola uses photography to offer a mystical fable as a metaphor of the contemporary world. In FOMO, also from 2022, Mónica Egido uses a performative duel to represent the need to stop and observe ourselves silently for an extended period of time. In The Circular Enclosure, a project currently underway and started in 2023, Laura San Segundo resolves a succession of landscapes as mental sites where the dialogue takes place between photography and the subconscious and is capable of transcending the inherent meaning of an image or element. In Anatomy of an Oyster, started in 2018 and still underway, Rita Puig-Serra Costa uses the photographic image to formulate a first-person journey into the past, in an attempt to tell a story of violence and abuse silenced by time. Finally, in the ongoing project INSCTS, Umberto Dicienove sets out to document the potential change we can achieve with insects, providing a global view with a special focus on people working on this change and those who will benefit from it.
Mónica Egido and Umberto Diecinove developed their projects as part of our MA in photography and artistic projects – the festival’s training programme. Laura San Segundo and Rita Puig-Serra Costa stood out within the set of projects submitted to the Discoveries viewing programme. And the Irene Zóttola’s photobook Ícaro was chosen for the 2022 PHotoESPAÑA award for Best Photography Book of the Year.