Social Portraits, 2009
In collaboration with Tomás Espina
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Social Portraits reimagines drawing not as a solitary gesture but as a method of social engagement and participatory research. The project created networks of interaction and co-presence, bringing people together through the simple yet powerful act of portraiture. Using soot—one of the most elemental materials in the history of art—applied to one of its most classical forms, the portrait, the work became a living archive of local faces, memories, and identities. What emerged was not only a body of work but also a civic event, where individual likenesses wove into a collective story of community.
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A parallel video projection deepened the experience by documenting the oral histories of the town of Unquillo and the museum space where the project took place. Viewers witnessed the creative process from start to finish, including moments of recognition and connection between artist and subject. Informal and immediate, the portraits were displayed non-traditionally—taped directly to the walls in an organic, immersive installation that enveloped the audience in the experience.
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The exhibition space was thus transformed into a collective portrait of the town. Visitors recognized themselves in the drawings—literally and metaphorically—and contributed to the narrative by photographing and sharing them through social media, creating a second layer of participation and digital dissemination.
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Rather than treating portraiture as a static representation, the project emphasized the act of looking—and being looked at—as a dynamic social process. What mattered was not the isolated image, but the web of interactions it set in motion. In this way, the artwork became a contemporary tool for community-building and memory-making.
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Social Portraits belongs to the field of socially engaged art, yet stands apart for its use of portraiture—a historically individualistic genre—as a medium for collective reflection and shared identity. From Descartes to Heidegger, the portrait has been tied to the idea of the autonomous self. Here, however, the gaze is redirected: the portraits exist not in isolation but in relation, and the audience becomes both viewer and participant. This reciprocal structure repositions the artwork as a platform for visibility, recognition, and civic connection.
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Through this project, traditional art forms were revitalized to serve contemporary social purposes. Social Portraits resonates with values of community involvement, freedom of expression, and cultural innovation, contributing meaningfully to the evolving field of socially engaged art.