Susana Isabel Espana is an artist photographer and collector. Born in Spain, currently lives and works in Bremen, Germany.

Her work has been exhibited across Europe, England and Turkey.

The search for the little things of everyday life is a characteristic of her photography, intimate and highly charged with emotion through the careful use of color and light.

The sense of belonging, the concept of home and feeling at home, are themes that are reflected repeatedly in her work, photographing for more than 15 years, her immediate family, friends and domestic spaces.

“Intimate photography is an exercise in pathology, an editing and sequencing of moments […] that reveal the origin and manifestation of the emotional lives of the subjects. ” (Cotton Charlotte, The Photograph as Contemporary Art, Edit. Thames & Hudson, New York, 2009, p. 138 284 pp.).

In recent years the focus of her work has shifted from photography more towards collage, mix media and embroidery. The medium of collage has allowed her to express herself, almost therapeutically, and to couple two realities, on a plane that apparently does not suit them. She loves the layering aspect of collage and their texture. Espana believes that we can use the scraps of our experiences, our memories, to later create, through this technique, a narrative that helps us understand our biographies.

 

For a decade Espana has also compiled and collected photographs, found in markets and private archives, anonymous but of great emotional value. She feels inspired by those memories frozen in time, which at the same time share a universal language.

Collecting photographs, according to Susan Sontag, is collecting the world.

 

Education 

1993-1999 BSc (Hons) Dentistry, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.

2001-2002 Studies in Restoration of Art, (CEROA), Madrid, Spain.

2003-2004 Studies in Photography (EFTI), Madrid, Spain.

2006-2007 Master of Arts in Photography, London College of Communication, UK.

Group Exhibitions and Festivals

2024  The 22nd Julia Margaret Cameron Awards for women photographers, Honorable Mention, Fotonostrum Gallery, Barcelona Spain.

2018 Group Exhibition "Travelers", Blank Wall Gallery, Athens, Greece.

2018 International Festival of Photography, Chania, Greece.

2007 MA Final Show, The Galleries, London College of Communication, London (UK).

2007 ENTREFOTOS, Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Madrid, Spain.

2007 SANDBLAST Festival, Richmix Gallery Space, Photomonth, London(UK).

2007 Festival of Photography 4 UFAT (Uludağ Üniversitesi Fotoğraf Amatörleri Topluluğu), Bursa, Turkey.

2007 Amnesty International, International Women's Day, London, UK.

2004 Festival 'OFF' PHOTOESPAÑA 04, Galería EFTI, Madrid, Spain.

2004 'De tal Palo tal astilla', Tarazona, Spain.

Various 

2007-2009 Portraits for the Architecture Magazin Xcepto, Madrid, Spain.

2006-2007 Workshop "On The Road" by Nikos Ekonomopoulos (Magnum Photographer).

2007 Acquisition "More than Thirty Years" for the University of the Arts, Permanent Collection, London, UK.

2004 Acquisition "Con mi presencia" (With my own presence) for the Arts Council Permanent Collection, Tarazona, Spain.

 

© Susana I. Espana

All images on this site are protected by the international copyright laws and are exclusive property of Susana Espana. Images may not be copied, published, reproduced, projected, manipulated, used or altered in any way without written permission from Susana Espana. The use of any photography as the basis of another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.