Graduated in Graphic Design at the Escuela Superior de Diseño de Madrid. She also studied Art History at the Autonomous University and the Master’s Degree in Research and Creation at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Complutense University of the same city. In 2018 she completed the Higher Studies in Photography at the PIC.A school of PHOTOESPAÑA and has been complementing her training as a photographer by doing numerous workshops and workshops with spanish photographers such as Juan Valbuena or Sofía Moro.
Her artistic work focuses on suggestive photographic proposals of author and multimedia pieces, as well as experimental artistic projects around the photography and the relationship between Art and Design. The latter have been exhibited in prestigious centers such as Matadero de Madrid, the Casa Encendida or the Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo.
His projects, inscribed in the emerging artistic field, stand out for their markedly experimental character. In November 2021 she received a LUX Award in the Junior Category granted by the Association of Professional Photographers of Spain (AFPE; and in October 2019 she was shortlisted for a scholarship at the Albarracín Photojournalism Seminar directed by Gervasio Sánchez.
In her work as an art director, graphic designer and photographer she was in charge of the Art and Design collective Estudio Crudo since 2010, carrying out photography, illustration and audiovisual projects.
Visual Artist / Photographer: Carol Galiñanes
Based in Madrid, Spain
Instagram:
@carolgalinanes
Culturally Arts Collective features:
"On The Rise", January 12th - March 31st, 2023,
Milostka Center for Exhibitions
How are your works born and what is the most important aspect that links them? If there are some, what other artworks/artists have inspired you?
Mixing and experimentation are a constant in all my projects, which are the result of the use of different techniques, materials and supports and the fusion of various disciplines such as art, design, photography or installation. All this interdisciplinarity and experimentation I work from the conceptual base that has become the axis of most of my work: fragility. Body fragility, mental fragility or vulnerability of the planet; there are cracks everywhere. Wear, shortages and losses take shape in different ways depending on the project.
I am inspired by photographers like Gregg Segal. In his work “7 days of garbage”, he decides to put in physical evidence the amount of waste we produce. He asked his models to collect and store their waste for a week and then he photographed them. I also find the work of Tomás Saraceno very interesting, who, through his provocative and modern installations, proposes to rethink the role and relationship that humans have with the planet.
What message are you hoping to convey through this series of photographs?
Climate change is the greatest environmental threat facing humanity. It is happening all over the world and its consequences can be devastating, both for the environment and for people. We tend to think that climate change is a distant problem, almost alien, but it is not. This is the objective of my analysis, to transmit that the solution is in us, in the citizens. We can make decisions that are within the reach of any person or company. We value the here and now and don't even consider what the planet will be like for future generations. We are at a point of no return.
As a starting point for the project, I have been inspired by the prestige disaster in Galicia, Spain. From here I began to investigate and I was interested in the consequences that the fashion industry causes on the planet. My intention is to try to create awareness and will to change. I formalized the project in a series of photo collages where the plastics that cover the characters act metaphorically as a mask, a mask that would hide feelings of guilt or shame. A mask that would cover the shame we feel in the face of consumerism and the consequent degradation of the planet. However, we do not stop compulsively generating waste. The images of the sea appear as a symbolic element, the great dumping ground for human beings. One of the key factors of sustainability continues to be awareness. Photography is a very visual way of showing the changes that nature is facing. Based on my photographs, I pretend that the problem is "more tangible".
How has your work as a photographer evolved to reflect climate change solutions?
The disaster of the “Prestige” ship, which spilled tons of oil on the Spanish coast creating a great ecological disaster, was my point of inspiration, but in the "We are trash" project I have tried to take this specific event to something more global and that affects us everyone: the consequences of the fashion industry on the planet. My intention is to try to create awareness and will to change. I propose a reflection on how environmental damage increases as the fashion industry grows, and how it is in our hands to stop this progress. In the case of fashion, we must raise awareness for a more responsible consumption, more consistent.
We are Trash by Carol Galiñanes
Photography, 20 x 40 cm, 2022
In your works, what are the aspects related to your personal experiences (for example: personal testimonies related to local climate change)?
Almost two decades have passed since the sinking of the “Prestige”, one of the biggest maritime catastrophes in the history of Spain. On a tragic November 13, 2002, the worst ecological disaster in the history of Spain occurred. A breakdown produced a large opening in the hull of the Prestige ship, through which tons of oil would begin to spill. Later it would split in two, dyeing the coasts of Galicia and a large part of the Cantabrian Sea black, reaching Portugal and France. In front of the black tide came the white tide. Faced with political inaction The catastrophe caused a popular commotion that would attract more than 300,000 volunteers from Spain and Europe who would participate in the operations to clean the beaches and cliffs of Galicia. Then the slogan “never again” was born. The misfortune contributed to bringing about the greatest social and political change that this country has experienced since the Transition to democracy and generated an ecological awareness in Spain that today seems more necessary than ever. The message that I intend to transmit with my photographic series is that the real change is in us.
The prestige was my point of inspiration, but in the "We are trash" project I have tried to take this specific event to something more global and that affects us all: the consequences of the fashion industry on the planet. My intention is try to create awareness and will to change. The fashion industry is the second most polluting in the world, after the oil industry. And environmental damage increases as the industry grows, and it is in our hands to stop this progress. My work, which at first was a tribute to my father's land and its sea, evolved until it acquired a documentary character. After numerous trips to his home in Galicia, and researching the ground, I became more and more concerned with the idea of the sustainability of the planet and how man influenced this deterioration. I consider fundamental a reflection and a critique in the current context. Man can present good and blameless behavior, but also destructive and selfish, specifically when he is motivated by his own interests. Thus, a dichotomy appears between knowing that we are doing wrong and, despite everything, continuing to stimulate the global consumption system.
The problem of climate change is also having an impact on the lives of individuals: where does your need to treat the theme of climate change as the subject of your works come from?
I find a phrase from the English philosopher HOBBES very inspiring: "Man is a wolf to man." It seems dramatic to me that we are letting the planet die without thinking about tomorrow, and the impact of our actions on the generations to come. It seems that we only think about the here and now and that something that unfortunately is already happening seems tremendously distant to us. My artistic line of work focuses on the theme of fragility - in this case the fragility of the planet. Cold waves and heat waves are becoming more common and intense, and they last longer than we are used to, with their impact on the most vulnerable population. Climate change affects our health, but also our socioeconomic structure. It seems fundamental to me to denounce through my work such a tragic and unfortunately close event. I experienced firsthand the disaster of the prestige ship and I was able to see how man can cause such a disaster and then collaborate to recover the damage caused. As Schelling said. "In man is the deepest abyss and, at the same time, the highest sky." In addition to claiming to defend a future free of toxins, and defending the elimination of all discharges or the use of dangerous chemical substances due to the current productive chain of the textile industry, I want to denounce that the majority of our garments are manufactured in countries where they are not workers' rights are respected. These are limited or non-existent, and even children are exploited in the current production system.
In terms of sustainability, several artists/designers are trying to make their contribution, applying sustainable practices in their artistic-production process, but also turning the spotlight on specific realities around which to create debate: what role, as an artist, do you feel you play in the context we are living in?
In these times of environmental crisis, I believe that my responsibility as an artist is to go one step further and protect the environment. The methods and techniques can be diverse, but the objective is always the same: to raise awareness about the importance of caring for the planet on which we live. I propose through my work to reactivate our relationship with nature and be aware of our environment, that the way to treat our planet is not purely functional.
What are the solutions that artists can implement to protect the environment and fight climate change?
RAISE AWARENESS through the power of image!