CONTACT – BIO
Clara de Tezanos (Guatemala, 1986)
info@claradetezanos.com
Clara de Tezanos (b. 1986) is an Uruguayan artist based in Antigua, Guatemala. From 2005 to 2007, she studied photography at The New School Parsons Paris and Speos Photography School in Paris.
From 2009 to 2018, she co-founded and directed the “Center for Contemporary Photography, La Fototeca”, and the “GuatePhoto Festival”, where she led academic, curatorial, and editorial projects.
In 2018, her photobooks “Piedra-Padre, Universo” and “Por Maniobras de un Terceto” were shortlisted for the Paris Photo–Aperture First Book Award, PhotoEspaña Best Book of the Year, and Rencontres d’Arles Book Awards, among others.
Her most recent solo exhibitions include “Faites un Voeu” (Galerie La La Lande, 2024) and “La Fuente es el Sol” (Galería Rebelde, 2022), while her recent group exhibitions include “Americanas” (Casa Wabi, 2024) and “Prendre le Soleil” (HangarY, 2023).
REPRESENTED BY:
Galería Rebelde (Guatemala)
Galería La La Lande (Paris)
Hanna Curatorial (Los Angeles)
Heliconia Projects (Rep Dominicana)
SELECTED SOLO SHOWS:
2024 Faites un Voeu curated by Aurelien Simon – Galería La la lande, Paris, France.
2022 La Fuente es el Sol curated by Andrea Dardón – La Galería Rebelde, Guatemala, Guatemala.
2021 Syzygy Espacio Temporal, curated by Fiorella Resenterra – San José, Costa Rica.
2019 Por Maniobras De Un Terceto edited by Alejandro Cartagena – La Nueva Fábrica, Espacio Intimo, Antigua, Guatemala.
2018 Piedra-Padre, Universo edited by Alejandro Cartagena – La Erre, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS:
2024 Americanas curated by Dakin Hart – Fundación Casa Wabi, Mexico City, Mexico.
_ Salón Acme – Mexico City, Mexico.
_ La Fragilidad del Tiempo Ancestral – Heliconia Projects, Dominican Republic.
2023 Prendre le Soleil curated by Marta Ponsa and Aurelie BAron – Hangar Y, Meudon, France.
_ Salón Acme – Mexico City, Mexico.
2022 En Escena curated by Marta Soul – CSF Gallery – Madrid, Spain.
_ Solarium curated by Alonso Cedillo – Aparador Cuchilla, Mexico City, Mexico.
_ La Imagen Quema curated by Josselyn Pinto – CCE, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
2021 La Lotería curated by Andres Asturias – La Erre, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
_ La Voluntad de lo material – Garza García Galería, Mexico City, Mexico.
2020 Post Flora, Maquinas para Transformar el Deseo – La Erre, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
_ Universos – PHotoEspaña – Spain.
_ El tiempo es una imagen indescifrable – Centro Cultural de España, El Salvador.
2019 Reading Room de PhotoEspaña – Madrid, Spain.
2018 Biennial of Fine Art & Documentary Photography, Barcelona, Spain.
_ Historias Contemporáneas, Paseo de las Artes, Mexico City, Mexico.
SELECTED DUO SHOWS:
2014 Implosión – Fototropía, Guatemala, Guatemala.
2013 Cosmos – Galerie Speos, Paris, France.
2012 Áurea – Museum of Modern Art, Guatemala, Guatemala.
2011 Cosmos – Ana Lucía Gómez Gallery, Guatemala, Guatemala.
ARTIST RESIDENCIES:
2021 Espacio Temporal – San José, Costa Rica
2021 Hotel El Ganzo – Los Cabos, Mexico
NOMINATIONS AND SHORTLISTS:
2024 CIFO Awards – Miami, USA.
2023 CIFO Awards – Miami, USA.
2020 Ambra Award, Zona Maco – Mexico City, Mexico.
_ The Rencontres D’arles, Author book awards – Arles, France.
_ PHotoEspaña, Best photobook of the year – Madrid, Spain.
2018 Paris Photo & Aperture The First Book Award – Paris, France.
_ FOLA Photobook Award – Buenos Aires, Argentina.
_ FELIFA Photobook Award – Buenos Aires, Argentina.
_ Month of Photography – Los Angeles, USA.
_ Best Photo Book List PHmuseum – USA.
_ Julia Margaret Cameron Award (The Gala Award) – Barcelona, Spain.
_ 11th Pollux Awards (The Gala Award) – Barcelona, Spain.
SELECTED ARTIST TALKS:
2024 Master Photo España
2022 Instasalon 10×10 PhotoBooks with Alejandro Cartagena
_ PhotoRio
_ FotoFeminas
PUBLICATIONS:
2019 Por Maniobras de un Terceto
2018 Lenguajes de Luz, GuatePhoto Festival
_ Piedra-Padre, Universo
ARTICLES LINKS:
2022 Nombre es destino by Gabriela Estrada – Architectural Digest
2020 La Máquina de lo Eterno by Stahl Albertine – Keeping up with All
_ Guatemala, tierra de arte by Sheila Ramírez – Forbes Centroamérica
_ The poetic work of Clara de Tezanos – Fahrenheit Magazine
_ Clara de Tezanos: El Sol es La Fuente – Artishock Magazine
_ La Galería Rebelde: ArtParis 2021 by Juan Marco Torres – Contents Magazine
2020 La Poesía de la imagen by Julio Serrano Echeverría – Ocote
_ Por maniobras de un Terceto by Olga Yetskevich – Collector Daily
2018 Clara de Tezanos by Bailey Dale – Aint-bad
_ The best photobooks of 2018 – PH Museum
_ Investigating the Agonising Question of Existence by Verónica Sanchis – PH
_ Museum The Photo Book Review 2018 – Aperture.org
_ Una comunidad para las fotógrafas latinoamericanas – The New York Times
_ Beautiful, Comfortable and Trapped by Adriana Teresa – The New York Times
EDUCATION:
2005 Professional Photography Fundamentals
_ Spéos School of Photography, Paris, France.
2005 Analog Photographic Tools
_ Parsons Paris – The New School, Paris, France
Artist Statement
My artistic practice is rooted in light—first through photography, and now through ongoing research into divinity, sexuality, and transformation. It offers a way to investigate the past and construct fictions and imaginaries as forms of present-day shelter. My work began with the camera, using light to explore ancestral memory, the archive, childhood, and inherited psychic material. This language continues through sculpture, performance, video, and installations that invite reflection on the present.
Time remains central to my work—a force that moves between past and future, that expands, pauses, and echoes. This inquiry is informed by physics, astronomy, and esoteric studies. My sculptural work has also been shaped by religious iconography and techniques where light holds symbolic resonance, deepening my interest in science, faith, myth, and the transformation of meaning.
More recently, my focus has shifted toward ritual and the body—as a mutable, symbolic terrain marked by memory, sexuality, and the sacred. In works like La Trampa de Falopio (A Clit or a Wound), I create immersive environments shaped by gesture, repetition, and presence, where personal and collective memory converge. My process often begins with intuition and archive—images, fragments, and gestures that unfold into spatial compositions. Light acts as a destabilizing agent, redirecting perception and questioning what is seen. The translation of meaning into material remains essential. I work with elements that carry memory and produce reflection. My practice speaks of the sacred not as doctrine, but as lived experience—where fables emerge in place of conclusions.