Talk with Guadalupe
„Returning to Paradise“ – An Anthropocene Reflection on the Narratives of Modern and Postmodern Society
Regarding your project Return to Paradise, what inspired you to develop it?
In Return to Paradise, I aim to address the disconnection between humanity and the environment. This project serves as a meeting point for reflecting on this gap and questioning: where do we stand in this interdependent world, and what is our role in the future we share?
To do so, it is essential to understand the logic behind our current production models. Only through this understanding can we rethink our relationship with the Earth from a more sustainable perspective. I strongly believe in the possibility of change. Climate change is not only one of the greatest challenges of our time but also a crucial opportunity to rethink the planetary transformations that affect us all.
Why do you think photography is a suitable medium to represent the Anthropocene?
In my photographic practice, and particularly in Return to Paradise, the image becomes a meeting point where we can question and overcome the separation between humanity and nature. Through photography, I invite people to reflect on the climate emergency, fostering environmental awareness and responsibility for the planet we inhabit.
The key question remains: where do we position ourselves in this symbiotic world, in the face of the future we share?
Moreover, the more we explore the universe, the more we realize that everything is shaped by a narrative. Nature itself presents us with overlapping stories: from cosmological history to the evolution of life and humanity, finally arriving at our own individual histories.
What role do fiction or fantasy play in your images?
In this particular series, Return to Paradise, I don’t work as much with those elements, although in previous projects, I have explored the dreamlike, the fantastic, and the unreal with a strong aesthetic charge.
I believe the image is an essential tool for reflecting on reality, everyday life, and the imaginary constructs that sustain our existence, desires, and fears. By addressing milestones such as life, death, and adulthood, my work seeks to unravel the way we organize and interpret them—sometimes unconsciously—as a process of change, mutation, or regeneration.
My creative process is based on exploration and self-discovery. I am interested in stepping out of my comfort zone and creating from a space of uncertainty—a void that, paradoxically, generates new possibilities. It is a personal search that carries a certain intentional fragility and ambiguity, where themes such as abandonment, separation, boundaries, time, and the feeling that the state of things is on the verge of rupture emerge.
Who is Guadalupe?
I am a visual artist from Argentina
I live in Barcelona, Sant Cugat del Vallès. Spain. I have
developed my professional career in the field of art
direction, culture, cultural heritage, design, art
education and cultural management.
I have developed my studies in Argentina, Spain, Italy
and Indonesia, I have participated individually and
collectively in exhibitions around the world.
I have exhibited at The Photographers Gallery, London,
Correspondence.world, https://correspondence.world. MAC,
Museum of Contemporary Art.
Publications in Time Out Hong Kong, among others.
I have been awarded a scholarship to specialize in Visual Arts on the
island of Hava, Indonesia, selected by the OSDE Argentina
Foundation, Residencies and Art Scholarships.
I work comfortably with projects of cultural creation, cultural design,
creation of cultural contents for Museums and Institutions, as
supervisor of Libraries and archives.
I have an extensive background in the world of photography. I have
collaborated with museums, galleries and artists, and I have received
recognition for my work as an artist, exhibition designer and project
editor.
I consider myself a person with adaptability, flexibility, initiative, self-
control and commitment that make my strengths proactivity, good teamwork skills, responsibility, confidence and discretion.
Excellent skills to perform various tasks, develop projects and carry
them out satisfactorily.
My main objective is to work in the field of Art and Design, Museums,
Galleries and Spaces of creativity, looking for a dynamization of the
Institutions through new technologies and making them adapt to
current trends.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Surname: Plaza Petersen Name: Guadalupe
NIE: Z0801937R
Place of Birth: Salta, Argentina
Address: Sant Cugat del Valles, Barcelona, Spain Phone
numbers: +34637726968
Email: electrónico:guadaplaza@gmail.com
Web: www.guadalupeplazapetersen.com Linkedin: https://
www.linkedin.com/in/guadalupe-plaza-petersen- a0007036/
Training
Background in Photography, Photoshop, Illustrator, Adobe In
Design, Editorial Design, Graphic Design, Web Design,
Exhibition Graphics, Arts Projects, Cultural Management,
Curatorial, Production Planning, Microsoft Office, Public
Relations, English, Spanish.
Professional Jobs
2023 – Gallery Assistant at FotoNostrum, Responsible for
planning and implementing the Editorial Fund and Edition of
Photography books, Art Gallery of Photography, Carrer de la
Disputació 48, Barcelona.
2017-2020 – Graphic Design at the Chamber Music Department
of the Ministry of Culture, Salta.
2017- 2020 – Cultural Management at Secretaría de Cultura,
Ministry of Culture, Salta. Promoting the work of emerging
artists from around the world and bringing art closer to
people’s lives, exhibition planning, project execution, research,
marketing and communications in the art sector.
2009- 2017 – Library and Archives Manager at MAC, Museo de
Arte Contemporáneo de Salta. Kick off Library Project.
Cultural Heritage, Salta. 2008-2009
Protocol and Ceremonial at the Ministry of Education and
Culture, 2000 – 2008.
Assistant Executive Production for the Ballet „The Nutcracker“,
Teatro Colon. 2008
Photography Assistant, for audiovisuals and Production
Assistant for the Fotodocumental Project, Cultural Department
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil. 2008
Clinics, Courses, Conferences.
Video Art and Electronic Art Clinics at CCEBA, Seminar on
Photography, Art and New Media.
Individual clinics with Gabriel Valansi and Fernando Farina.
Participated in the Biennial of Documentary Photography in
Tucumán.
Writing in Curatorial Practice, CIC, Centro de Investigación
Cinematográfica, year 2021.
The main memory. Techniques of the Imagination, Malba
Argentina 2022
Lecture: The Di Tella: art scenes on the verge of a life attack,
Malba, Argentina 2022
Conversation: Four experiences for a biennial Presentation of
the 11th Berlin Biennial, Malba Argentina, 2020
Course: Bauhaus: avant-garde, society and photography,
Malba, Argentina 2020 Course: Bauhaus: avant-garde, society
and photography, Malba, Argentina 2020
Course: Archaeology of global art Universal exhibitions,
biennials and fairs, Malba, Malba 2020
Course: Cindy Sherman: Untitled, Malba Argentina 2020
Announced song: 34th São Paulo Biennial, MALBA Argentina
Online round table: Women Photographers in Latin America,
Malba, Argentina. Conservatory: Contemporary Art at Malba,
Argentina
Latin American course south of the south: The conceptual turn:
the idea as protagonist Malba
A class to learn about the impact of Marta Minujín, Mirtha
Dermisache and Margarita Paksa in today’s art, Fundación Proa,
Argentina 2019.
A class that brings us closer to the world of artists Mona
Hatoum and Shirin Neshat, Fundación Proa Argentina.2019.
A program of virtual classes to get to know the artists in the
exhibition Creating Worlds, Proa Argentina, 2019.
Conference „Connected: from virtual to real“ Fundación
Telefónica 2019 Artificial intelligence and education 2019.
Awards and Scholarships
Darmasiswa Scholarship in Indonesia, ISI SOLO University
She was awarded at the national level by the OSDE
Foundation.
Granted by the National Endowment for the Arts: Workshop on
Analysis and Monitoring of work, 2012.
Granted a scholarship for the Residency and crossings of artists
in Cordoba in the City of Arts.
Solo Exhibitions
2019 de(s)amor, Museum of Contemporary Art of Salta.
2011 de(s)arraigo at Espacio Arte, Aeropuertos 2000, curated by
Mariana Rodríguez Iglesias.
2009 de(s)arraigo at Casa de la Cultura, Cosenza Italy, curated
by Lucas Michael. 2008 Registros de mi acción, photographic
installation (backligh), at Pro Cultura Salta.
2007 Registros de mi acción, photographic installation
(backligh) MAC, Museum of Contemporary Art.
2004 They don’t know that, MAC, Museum of Contemporary
Art of Salta.
Group Exhibitions
2022 The Syzgy Projet, Landscape, Curator Jillian Ballas https://
www.thesyzygyproject.com/landscapesexhibition
2021 Correspondance, Curator: Thomas Brown. The
Photographer ́ Gallery (London
2019 Espacio 3, Design, Salta
2019 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION of VISUAL ARTS 2019,
Tuscany Association, Casa Museo de la Ciudad – San Miguel de
Tucumán
2014 SPACE 3, Design Art Space, Salta 2009 de(s)rraigo, Museo
del Presente, Cosenza Italy, Curator: Lucas Michael.
2006 Collective Exhibition at Regional Level for the Visual Arts
Competition OSDE Foundation at the Museum of Fine Arts,
Timoteo Navarro, Tucumán.
2006 National Fund for the Arts, Collective Exhibition of Artists
from Salta „Belonging“.
2006 Imago Buenos Aires Art Space, Group Exhibition Contest
OSDE.
2006 Museum of Contemporary Art of Salta, Group Exhibition
of Artists, OSDE Foundation.
2006 Provincial Museum of Fine Arts, Video Art RED for the
exhibition „Fine Arts in the Fine Arts“, with filmmaker José
María Martinelli.
2006 Museum of Contemporary Art of Salta, Intervened object
„Women with Memory“. Fundación Alegría, Intervened object
„Cardones con alma“.
Publicaciones
2022 Al_Tiba 9 ISSUE 12 https://www.altiba9.com/ , Feria Arco
Madrid 2023
2022 A la luz, https://www.alaluz.org/blog/guadalupe-plaza-
petersen 2022 Estética de la Fotografía, https://
aestheticsofphotography.com/ charlas/
2022 El Mocla, https://en.themocla.com/intervista-guadalupe-
plaza- petersen https://www.themocla.com/interviste
2021LÓeildelafotografía;https://loeildelaphotographie.com/en/
guadalupe- plaza-petersen-dv/
2021 Te Pupil Sphere; https://www.pupilsphere.co.uk/home/
guadalupe- plaza- petersen-return-to-paradise
Time Out de Hong Kong, https://www.timeout.com/hong-
kong/ travel/ street-eats- the- beijing-treats
https://www.roughguides.com/article/pictures-of-china/
Inmersion Travel Mag, y Sevenseas
Collections
His work is part of the Collection of the MAC, (Museo de Arte
Contemporáneo)
Galleries
Gallery Stopwatch https://stopwatchgallery.com/portfolio-item/
guadalupe-plaza- petersen/
Saatchi Art, https://www.saatchiart.com/account/artworks/
1967827
Valkgallery: https:// valkgaller y.com/etiqueta-producto/
guadalupe-plaza- Godoy Cruz 1768, 1414 Buenos Aires,
Argentina