Manuela Lara

Manuela Lara (b. 1989, Bogotá, Colombia) is an artist that has dedicated her career to create works that connect and reflect people’s realities. Her artworks collect diverse materials, objects, and life stories, creating compositions that narrate the authenticity of each human being. She immerses herself in the universe of others, through dialogue, research, and observation, and using the mediums of painting, collage, photography and audio to create pieces that encourage empathy. Through intimate conversations, she invites people to immerse themselves in the singularities of their own stories. Her journey is defined by the belief that every person is full of life, therefore she focuses on their voices making them the source of inspiration for her images. Working in conversation is what keeps her work open to new visual possibilities, the materials she uses reflect the sitter’s unique context.

Manuela graduated with honors from her B.A. in Fine Arts from the Javeriana University in Bogotá, Colombia. Her work has been exhibited in different art spaces and galleries in Bogotá, Cali, Paris, and New York. Her pieces are part of private collections in South américa, the United States, Europe, and África. She has been in residence in Peru working with the Curahuasi town community and more recently, working closely with social leaders in different regions of Colombia, elaborating her ongoing art project ALIVE/VIVAS.

In 2021 she was awarded, together with an audiovisual team, of the Mintic Colombia Documentary Series for Television prize to film 3 chapters of the VIVAS project.