The artistic practice of Lorena Vel谩zquez, a Franco-Mexican artist, revolves around three points of focus: her admiration and respect for trees as silent and perennial witnesses of the footprint of human beings on the Earth; the city, where her poetic gaze reveals situations that go unnoticed in the constant bustle; and human beings, as the deep empathy each person generates in her is expressed in her portraits, whether created spontaneously or in the studio.
Individually, she has exhibited work at the Reloj Gallery in Mexico City and at the Parque de la Providencia in Metepec, State of Mexico. Her artistic career has earned her a number of recognitions, including support from the Program for Cultural Projects and Co-investments (FONCA, 1995) and First Place in the Digital Print category at the FINI International Image Competition (2011) for her work Radiograf铆a Pulmonar.
Although photography is her principal medium of expression, the passion of Lorena Vel谩zquez for the image extends to other disciplines such as printmaking, installation, bookbinding and the creation of artist鈥檚 books. In this latter sphere, she has participated in collective exhibitions such as the CODEX International Book Fair in Richmond, California (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019); in the salon Pages in Paris on two occasions, at the Centre du Bastille Design Center and at the Palais de la femme (2018); the book fair Art Paper Works at the Rufino Tamayo Museum (2017); CODEX Mexico at the Centro Cultural Estaci贸n Indianilla (2012) and L茅eme at the Casa del Lago (2012).
In 2018, her series Au Pays des Merveilles formed part of an exhibition curated by Didier Mutuel in the south of France and of the collective exhibition Artist鈥檚 Books from Mexico held at the art museum of Sonoma Valley. Meanwhile, she also presented work as part of M谩xima Expresi贸n otras formas de ver y hacer libros, shown at the Biblioteca M茅xico, and at the exhibition Artist鈥檚 books from Mexico and the Mexican Diaspora at the Mexican Consulate in California. Later that year, Vel谩zquez travelled to the Biosphere of Tehuac谩n together with the photographers Javier Hinojosa, Gabriel Figueroa, Silvia Gonz谩lez de Le贸n, Lourdes Almeida, among others. The resulting photographs formed part of the third annual art auction at the International Museum of the Baroque, Puebla.
In the sphere of publishing, of note are her books Exit (2019), in collaboration with the poet Francisco Segovia; Un mundo sin flores (2016), 42 (2015)鈥攐n the disappearance of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa; Spiral Lady (2013), Le Silence des Arbres (2013), El Vuelo (2012) and El Latido del Coraz贸n (2011).
Her work forms part of significant photographic collections, including the University of Berkeley, the University of Stanford, the Bancroft Library, Duke Library, Brown University Special Collections, the National Photography Archive of Mexico, the Carrillo Gil Museum, the Center for the Image, the Alumnos 47 Foundation and the Embassy of France in Mexico, as well as in private collections.
