CONTESTING NARRATIVES

CONTESTING NARRATIVES

Using Archival Images to Expand the Imaginary

A conversation with artist Nieves Mingueza

moderated by Estéfani Bouza

This Open Session deals with the archive and its material as a productive space. We will discuss the work of contemporary artist, Nieves Mingueza, who utilises archival images to create a visuality around aspects of women’s lives that usually go unnoticed. This session will feature a conversation with Mingueza about her work: Case 3181 (2020), One in Three Women (2021) and winter while waiting (2024) where the artist addresses gender-based violence using found vernacular photographs, archival material and her own writing. In that sense, Mingueza ‘reactivates’ these forgotten photographs to visualise the predominance of gender-based violence: a topic often silenced, that Mingueza’s practice brings to the surface to prevent these stories falling into oblivion. Throughout the conversation, we will address the roles of archival and ‘found’ materials in configuring alternative futures, considering how images shape new imaginations.

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Nieves Mingueza is a visual artist, researcher, educator and curator. Her practice-led research interweaves documentary photography, archival material, collage, text, film, and installation. Bridging the space between the conceptual, personal and political, she re-uses and activates visual material to explore subjects such as gender violence, mental health, and memory. Her work has been exhibited widely, including installations at Les Rencontres de la Photography Arles (FR), Peckham 24, Royal Academy of Arts, Saatchi Gallery, Tate Modern, Tate Britain (UK), Fondazione Giorgio Cini (IT), and PhotoEspana (SP). She holds an MA in Photography and is completing a PhD at LCC, University of Arts London.

Estéfani Bouza is a visual artist, researcher and lecturer at Swansea College of Art, University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Bouza’s practice and research focuses on ideas of archiving and collecting in photographic practice. She holds a PhD and an MA in photographic studies from the University of Westminster. Her work has been exhibited widely in the UK, Spain, Portugal and South America.