Gabriela Esplá
Bio
Gabriela Esplá studied art at the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University in Bogotá, under the mentorship of Guillermo Cárdenas and later Delcy Morelos. Her work has been widely exhibited in Panama, Italy, and Colombia, including arteconsult Gallery in Panama and the Zero Edge exhibition at the Today Art Museum in Beijing, China, collaborating with curators like Juan Xu and Sandra Miranda Pattin. Esplá also participated in artist residencies at Chiasso Perduto, Florence, Italy. She received an honorable mention in the Le Venezie Award organized by ACSA and Shengxinyu Art in Treviso, Italy.
Her work is part of public collections, including the Morgan & Morgan Foundation, Banco Nacional de Panamá, Banco General de Panamá, and Global Bank, as well as private collections in Panama, Spain, and the US. Gabriela currently lives and works in Panama City.
Statement
The mountain split in half, the horizon now becomes the background. Trees grow underwater, in sweet, artificial water. Through her work, Gabriela Esplá captures ambiguity, using the jungle as a symbol of resistance, unpredictable growth, and collective memory. In her research on the Chagres River villages, flooded to fill Lake Gatún, she reflects on the recovery of an imaginary territory and the displacement of communities at the mercy of development. The artist explores the relationship between identity and memory, rewriting a new visual narrative of her cultural context.
Additional information
En la investigación "Héroes" de los pueblos del río Chagres que fueron inundados para rellenar el Lago Gatún, hace una reflexión sobre la recuperación de un territorio imaginario y el desplazamiento de pueblos a merced del desarrollo.
La artista explora la relación entre identidad y la memoria a través de una metáfora visual sobre su contexto cultural y la recuperación de espacio reescribiendo una nueva memoria.
2.5 x 4m / 98.4 x 157 in
